Tag: Three Things

Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.
— Albert Schweitzer (oddly enough, this is also often attributed to Ingrid Bergman)

Honestly, I am over this. I think I might drop this feature from weekly to biweekly or even monthly – or maybe just “when I feel like it.” I don’t know; I just wasn’t in the mood to post yesterday. I kept meaning to, and then didn’t. It’s not that I don’t see the value in it, and it’s not because I’m feeling down or anything, I just . . . I guess it’s that this started when I wasn’t sure I’d have enough to say to sustain a blog, and thought this might give me an easy way in to posting. It turns out I’ve got more to say than I thought, I’d rather be free to do that than be constrained by a schedule, even one as lax as this (and I do know that it’s me who’s constraining myself, always demanding that things go in a precise order).

So, here is tonight’s list, which may have to sustain you for some time. [Confession: not all of these are actually in my little notebook yet; I cheated a little today and added some on the fly. I’m unpredictable like that.]

1. my crossdressing 2-year-old nephew [This kid is a riot; he loves his trucks, but he also loves his sister’s dress up clothes, especially her princess dresses. I’ll post a picture if Nate says it’s ok Here’s a picture:]

2. the National Air Force Memorial at sunset [I saw this through the train window on the way home tonight, and with the sun almost totally set and the clouds, it was gorgeous]
3. fresh mojitos
4. walk-off homeruns
5. playoff football
6. chorizo and Swiss cheese on a fresh, crusty baguette
7. the top of the Empire State Building on a clear day, not unlike this one [that’s me and Aimee]:

8. taking in a show at the Moulin Rouge in Paris
9. being friends with your brother
10. public libraries [when I was a kid, I think the limit at our library was 12 books at a time; I was in there almost every day in the summer – I’d rather read than do almost anything else]
11. sleeping with the window open for three nights in the middle of January [back to coldness tomorrow, boo]
12. an old hotel with lots of history
13. the big ferris wheel in the Toys R Us in Times Square
14. realizing that something you did really made someone’s day
15. when the floor is warm and toasty under your bare feet because the heating pipes run underneath it
16. clearing out clutter
17. waiting for it to rain so you don’t have to wash your car
18. “boy-blue” oxford shirts [you know the ones I mean, right?]
19. making the last payment on a credit card [yeah, this hasn’t happened for me in some time]
20. summer nights when it’s just cool enough for shorts and a sweatshirt

I’m working on Part 2 of Memory Lane; hopefully it will go up this weekend.

There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year’s course.  Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word “happy” would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.
—  Carl Jung

Happy new year!  As predicted last week, I spent the evening drinking champagne (mostly from a glass, though I got one very satisfactory swig from the bottle) and watching movies (Reign Over Me – very good).  I would have liked to be out, but somehow, when you don’t make the effort to make plans, they tend not to materialize on their own, so . . .

My trip to Buffalo was very nice, minus the sad parts about my grandpa from my last post.  I got to see some cousins I hadn’t seen in a while and hang out in a (very) small-town bar on a Friday night, which was definitely an experience.  It’s not a stereotype for nothin’.  Those of you who know me from the interwebs will understand who I’m talking about when I say that I got to meet Suby, SubyJr, Skipper, and ThinIdentity for lunch on Saturday – what a great time that was!  Such funny, smart, beautiful women.

It’s back to work tomorrow; at least it’s a three-day week to ease back into it.  I don’t think I could handle a full five-day week just yet.  It’s been nice to relax and travel to visit family.  The holidays were good to us; I’ve got no complaints, really.

Here’s this week’s list:

1. cousins
2. a 28-mile canoe trip [I’m not gonna lie – I ended up across the river from the rest of the group at the end of the weekend because I lost my paddle in the last mile or so, but a Good Samaritan saw me and drove me back to the other side]
3. creme brulee
4. people who know that money is not a prerequisite for happiness
5.  going down swinging
6. two-hour lunches
7. floor seats at a great concert
8. curtain calls
9. breakfast foods: eggs, bacon, toast, hash browns, grits, pancakes, and orange juice
10. doing all your laundry and housework on December 31 so you start the new year with everything clean and fresh

I hope your new year is getting off to a great start!

You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.
— Albert Camus

This is going to be brief. I’m having a very difficult time personally right now, and just when things seemed to be looking up a little, I got blindsided by something else. I do think it’s important to still try to focus on the little things and remember that things were not, and won’t always be, as bad as I feel like they are right now.

I would like to say, also, a very heartfelt thanks to my “invisible” friends, who have surprised me with their kindness, support, and generosity over the past several days. I’m not surprised that they are kind, supportive, and generous – I’ve seen them show it over and over again – but I am surprised that that their kindness, support, and generosity were so freely extended to me. (You may have heard that I have a hard time making friends and tend to be insecure.) I really can’t tell all of you what it means to me, but I thank you.

So, here’s this week’s list:

1. when you all of a sudden have a funny thought and laugh out loud
2. old couples who are still obviously in love [not unlike this couple, on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France]:

3. having friends all over the world
4. sitting next to someone good on a plane
5. big raindrops
6. babies fresh from the bath
7. sneaking out without getting caught [not that I ever did this]
8. catching snowflakes on your tongue
9. the mountains of Virginia
10. a really comfortable bed