Psst ... it's me, Scottie Andrew, filling in for AJ this weekend. Thanks for reading!

What's a song that centers you when you're feeling unmoored — that tune you return to time and again when you're anxious or overwhelmed or just plain down? Mine is Modest Mouse's "Gravity Rides Everything." I'm not one for meditation, but music, and this song in particular, puts me in a similarly introspective mood. It grounds me — I breathe with it, let go of the tension I'd been holding and just focus on the plucky guitar and the simple, soothing lyrics. After a few listens, I can think clearly and lean into the song's central theme: Life will just keep happening. It's up to us to decide how to live in response. Some episodes of life feel too heavy to carry. Music helps me release some of that weight — and I hope you can take some solace in it, too.

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Our favorites this week

Get going with some of our most popular good news stories of the week

Love on top

The following love story is 100% true and not a “Before Sunrise” imitator or a particularly compelling piece of fan fiction. In fact, Dan Giedeman and Esther Wieland’s love story might outdo even the best fictional romances because theirs began with a chance meeting at the top of the Eiffel Tower. SWOON! The year was 1998. Dan was an American grad student attending an economics conference in Paris. Esther was a preschool teacher visiting the city from Switzerland. Both of them found their way to the Eiffel Tower, where Dan spotted her, approached her in broken French and sheepishly learned that she spoke fluent English. The pair peered down at the City of Light and soon descended to the street to wander the Jardin de Luxembourg together. A stranger snapped a photo of them (see above!) before Dan walked her to the train station. He kissed her hand, scribbled his contact info on a piece of paper and saw Esther off – and that was just the first few hours of their two-decade international love story. After weeks of exchanging postcards, they met up in Zurich and began a cross-continent relationship before finally marrying and settling in Grand Rapids, Michigan. (It's not exactly Paris, but it’s still their home today.) A few years back, on a family trip to Paris, they took their three children to the same spot where it all began. “I expect that for the rest of my life I will think of you whenever I see an image of the Eiffel Tower," Dan wrote in his first postcard to Esther. Now, whenever I see a pic of the iconic structure, I'll think of the two of them.

A portly bear is exonerated
HANK THE TANK LIVES TO EAT ANOTHER DAY! This 500-pound behemoth, who was presumed guilty of breaking into more than two dozen homes in California’s tony Lake Tahoe earlier this month, was expected to be euthanized – until, that is, his accomplices were brought to light. Hank did break into some of the homes, but the forced entries were the work of not one but three or more bears, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife concluded after examining DNA evidence. Instead of euthanizing the lot of them, the department said it’ll trap, tag and release them in a suitable habitat so it can track their movements. Nature wins again!

Raise a glass to...

... Dr. Paul Farmer, who led with his heart and invaluably altered health care for those most in need. Farmer died this week at 62, but the work he did carries on. He dedicated his career to caring for impoverished communities across the world, opening a 300-bed hospital in the poorest region of Haiti where, decades earlier, he'd gone door to door handing out antiviral medication during the AIDS epidemic. At the time of his death, he was in Rwanda, where his organization Partners in Health provided care to more than 800,000 residents. In 2017, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta spent time with Farmer at the aforementioned hospital in Haiti. Of his time with Farmer, he said:"My personal attitudes toward charity and altruism, in part, have been shaped by wanting to live up to the ideals Farmer has shown me, because if pure altruism really does exist in humans, it probably looks a lot like him."

A bright idea

Lorna Goldstrand Klefsaas didn't want her then 12-year-old son Sivert spending all of his time on social media. She'd raised three daughters who'd used the platforms so much that it was like a "depressant," she said. So she offered her son a deal: If he stayed off social media until his 18th birthday, she'd pay him $1,800. That was in 2016. Today, Sivert is 18 – and $1,800 richer after successfully avoiding all things Twitter and TikTok (among many other platforms) over the last several years. Lorna's happy that her son didn't spend his middle and high school years staring at a screen, but Sivert said he didn't even think about it: "I wouldn't say there was ever a time where I thought I was about to break." He's planning to spend his winnings on some items for his college dorm room. Oh, and he's finally on social media now — the first app he joined was Instagram.

You gotta see this

I imagine it was a sleepy spring evening in Costa Rica when a meteorite came crashing down on the humble home of Roky, an unassuming German Shepherd, puncturing his rusted tin roof and narrowly missing Roky himself – a dog’s life indeed. The remnants of what was likely a traumatic moment for poor Roky is now a valuable artifact. Christie’s sold the dog house, complete with the tiny hole made by the space rock, at auction this week for $44,000 – a steal of sorts, considering its high estimate of $300,000. The meteorite responsible for the damage sold for a mere $21,000 – because it turns out that objects hit by meteorites are far more rare than meteorites themselves, per the auction house. We can only hope Roky received a cut of the sale as compensation.

Wanna get away?

Maybe you’ve trekked through Yellowstone or Zion National Park, or at least you’ve heard a song or two about the Great Smoky Mountains, but have you ever considered making your way up (and I mean way up) to the Gates of the Arctic? The sprawling Alaskan park was the least-visited US national park last year, with fewer than 7,400 visits recorded in 2021. Granted, it’s not as easy as driving to Tennessee or hopping on a plane to Wyoming – there are no roads inside the Gates of the Arctic. The park’s official website even warns visitors: “You’re on your own.” But those who brave the harsh environment will be greatly rewarded: Amid the glittering snow and icy mountaintops, they might happen upon herds of moose and muskox or migratory caribou on their way to the Western Arctic. A chance encounter with majestic wildlife (from a safe distance, of course) makes the effort it takes to get to the Gates of the Arctic sure sound worth it.

Who knew?

Tuesday's date was 2/22/22 — a "Super Twosday," if you will — and a palindrome date the likes of which we won't see for another 400 years. Yep, the next time a 2/22/22 Tuesday appears on the calendar will be in 2422, so plenty of people made the most of the rare occasion — mostly by getting hitched. Cities around the world hosted mass-weddings, like Sacramento, California, where 222 couples married in a ceremony that ended at 2:22 p.m. Las Vegas' Harry Reid International Airport even offered marriage licenses on Tuesday, knowing guests came to capitalize on the extra-special date. Congratulations 2 all the happy, palindrome-lovin' couples.

To your health

Ask anyone who's dealt with a rambunctious puppy and they'll likely tell you that raising the furry critter took years off their life, but science tells us that the opposite is true. Living with a pet for years can delay memory loss and other kinds of cognitive decline, preliminary research shows — and it doesn't matter whether said pet is an overactive dog or a docile lizard. Why pet owners showed fewer signs of cognitive decline compared to the pet-less set isn't yet clear — more research is needed — but what we know so far provides yet another reason to add a four-legged member to your household.

Rec of the week

Brought to you by CNN Underscored

Just 38 items that will make you happy in 2022

For the bits of joy money can buy, we’ve rounded up some items we truly think will brighten your day. From a dumpling ambient light to heated potato slippers, keep reading to check out all of the amazing finds.

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