There is a book out called Book of Delights. The author keeps a year-long journal of things that delight him each day. At first he says finding the delights each day is a little arduous and contrived. But of course, it gets easier and he actually begins to feel more delight each day.
So let’s see if I can do it. Every day is a tall order but I’d like to try.
12/29/19
I am going to start with yesterday because there was such a wonderful delight. Our daughter-in-law texted us, “ It’s the feast of the holy family today and we just want to thank you guys for your love, kindness and support. We are grateful for you!” Life does not get better than this. I may name this one every day.
12/30/19
Today I went to the gym for cardio kickboxing, and I delight in the simple fellowship of the tough, positive, self-disciplined women at the gym. They learn names, they connect, they work really hard, and they finish each class with lots of praise and compliments. It delights me. I was also able to make progress on our 2020 goal to divest: I gave away some outdoor decorations that resulted from my garage clean-up, sold the armoire on offer up, and got Jimmy and Ank’s crib WD-40’d to work smoothly for a sale this week. Progress on the goal of simplifying and divesting is very pleasurable, and doing it in a way that sometimes makes money, but also ensures that our old stuff goes to someone who wants or needs it is beyond pleasurable. Recycle and help at the same time. Delightful!
12/31/19
Today we sold our beautiful armoire through Offer Up. Although I felt sad to see that piece that we bought in our first year of marriage drive away, I was absolutely delighted when the man placed three crisp new $100 bills in my hand. I know it’s shallow. But I was glad to be successful in divesting. And I was glad for the vast space in our bedroom. And I was glad that someone who really liked the armoire was going to get it. And I was glad we got it out of here without breaking the mirror or the door. Jimmy and Peter manhandled it out to the garage and delivered it to the truck bed of the buyer without mishap. But mostly I was delighted to get the clean new bills. Call me shallow.
1/2/20
so many delights today!
a pink sunrise in the East on a crisp clear day;
the camaraderie of the women at the gym, including a hug from Cindy, and teasing from Stephanie about our sculpted bodies;
The pleasure of being in my home town with hugs from Darrell and Jeannie at Fred Meyer;
the birthday party for Jimmy had amazing highlights— Hazel tossing aside her baby to get a closer look at Juju’s long red fingernails, Peter cleverly giving the girls euros for Christmas, Elaine creating a birthday crown for Jimmy with rabbit ears, and Juju patiently drying dishes in service after the party.
so many delights!
1/3/20
Our 8 year old granddaughter Giuliana is a delight. It is easy to put everything aside and be still to listen to her, because she is kind, and charming, and so enthusiastic about everything! She brought a book to show me tonight, a book she made, using the computer. It is a planning (or planing) book for her trip to Orlando in three weeks. It has a cover page with a detailed drawing of an Alaska Airlines plane above the clouds, their typed itinerary, and the typed temperature and humidity in Orlando. It has an inside page with a handwritten checklist of clothes to take on the trip. The checklist has little boxes she can check. There is another inside page with a computer generated table of a packing list for on the plane, again with boxes to check off. The book is stapled. I knew she had been bustling around, printing and stapling, trying to get the aged garbling stapler to work. But I was so delighted when I saw her finished product, which she explained in tiny detail at length. What a joy.
1/4/2020
Happy birthday to Jimmy! I cried with joy when you were born (ok, and with relief) and I am still glad every day that you are my son and that you bring your exuberance to the world.
Today had several delights:
the Caramel Le Fatso rabbit outside my bathroom this morning, seated like a cat looking over the field;
The lovely retirement party for Dr. Kariya put on by his wife and daughter, joyful and respectful, frugal and extravagant, in a rented room at Seattle Community College, with a giant red sparkly cake, with raffle prizes of the leftover Sonicare toothbrushes from the office, with 100 patients who had never seen each other before trying to make conversation (How many crowns do you have?), with a potluck buffet, And Dr. Kariya standing proudly to give his speech with a sash on that said, Let the Fun Begin!
At the party, one old codger told a story about a schoolroom snake that was given a live rat to eat over a weekend. On Monday morning the students arrived to find a dead snake, half eaten and one happy rat. Delightful!
This morning I sold Jimmy and Anthony’s crib purchased in 1981 to a couple who are having a baby after having some trouble getting pregnant, and they were so happy and grateful to have such a high quality piece of furniture. We threw in the damaged high chair for free and they were pleased as punch! Money plus service plus recycling!
1/6/20
This is harder than it seems, remembering each day to write. I am feeling delights, but have not yet set up a pattern for writing. But today’s delight is clear. My sister came over for lunch, and she was cheerful and appreciative, and easy to be around. She was curious and a good listener. She was friendly and funny with Joe, and a good eater. All in all it was a comfortable, and fun, and homey, and nurturing. We sat on the couch and drank tea. It was a delightful in a most zen way.
1/7/20
We have Dinner Club tonight and I made an old fashioned apple cobbler for dessert. Honey Crisp apples and Granny Smith apples and coconut sugar and oatmeal crust and coconut ice cream— a delicious dessert with no animal fats. Everybody appreciated it, and we were able to send portions home with John for Connie who couldn’t make it. Yum.
1/9/20
I ran across this old photo today. It makes me laugh. The Farrs used Jimmy as a model, faking this little family focused on their estate planning under the wise guidance of the sage Dan Farr.
1/9/20
Joe is patiently going through some neurological testing to see the state of his brain. It could be stressful and scary. But Joe makes everything fun, and includes the staff and me, having fun with all of it. He makes me laugh.
He is also acting more and more like his dad in quirky ways. Check out his attempts to stop people from turning around by the barn. I think I am laughing WITH him.
1/12/20
I am so happy to be sharing this delight today. This morning Bella had a gymnastics meet, so Jimmy woke her up at 5:30 and she bustled around in joyous anticipation of her meet. She got her curlers out and fixed her hair, made her bed and folded her laundry, smiling and talking as she packed her backpack, wiggled into her sparkly green leotard, ate a healthy breakfast, and talked, talked, talked. She is not usually a morning person. At all. She tends toward the sullen and pouty and unappreciative in the morning. But on the day of her meet she was bubbling and open, about school and math and being Level 4 at gymnastics and her room and her snacks. When she gets like this I savor it. Nestle into it. Hold still and listen and appreciate. Keep eye contact and smile a lot. I appreciate this strong, capable, wiry, bright little person, who gets herself ready, dishes up her dad’s oatmeal, and makes sure he is showering on time so she can get to her meet on time. A delight. And she won 2nd place at her meet with her second highest score of all time at 36.7 and was beaming with pride. I do not care that she came in second. I care that she is so happy and disciplined and self motivated.
Things that made me laugh out loud on 1/14/20:
An adult pulling sled with a little guy on it over 2inches of snow at the city park, little guy bundled in a giant snow suit and smiling;
two city cops riding bikes around in the snow;
Bernie Sanders cracking jokes during the debate;
Hearing via Audibles Dickens’ hilarious description of Jerry Cruncher in A Tale of Two Cities;
Joe wearing his shirt saying “Joe” on the front to the gym and wondering why everybody knows his name;
what a great day!
1/18/20
Today I took a walk and here were some things that made me smile:
The cute white top knot on our Herefords as they gawked at me. They have the sweetest 1940 bangs like my mom and her sisters;
The quarter I found in the street;
The tidy stacks of pruning in the park, done by the city parks crew;
The little fat junco that accompanied me down the road, flying from branch to branch beside me.
the end.
1/26/20
today I have a laughing out loud delight. The girls opened a spa today in our house and are charging us $6 for a 15 minute massage minus a $4 senior citizen discount. So the math starts getting complicated, and they are not paying for the scrub and lotion and hot water, but we cheerfully pay because it is all so delightful.
The spa session starts with them putting on spa music and setting up pillows in the living room. They welcomed me and asked my name and put my feet up on the pillows. Isabella said she would be handling my left foot and Giuliana my right foot. Their little fingers were smoothing and wiggling and they were giggling and putting on their best professional faces. The alarm is going off every three minutes and Giulian is leaping up to run the bathtub or find the lotion or change the music. Then we “transitioned” upstairs for the foot soak and scrub. This involved the girls changing into their bathing suits and climbing past me to get into the tub to work on my feet. I was laughing so hard I could hardly breathe.
They used about $20 worth of bath salts and lavender bath foam in the water, until the water was milky with soap. Then they used $10 worth of foot scrub and foot foam, both of them getting slipperier and more crowded with elbows scrubbing. Of course all the products are mine. Then Giuliana went downstairs to set up for Joe while Bella scraped my feet with a cuticle brush and applied lotion. I only got the ten minute package, but Joe ordered the 20 minute package. They confessed to me that they did not want to touch his feet because his toes are so crooked.
but when his time came they sat him down and started massaging, and he relaxed deeply wiping his eyes closed. I could see them clock watching and giving each other alarmed faces at how long the massage went on. By the end Bella was leaning away toward the timer, massaging with two fingers, and they were both mouthing, “ Why is this so looong?”
I was sitting behind them so I got to watch the whole thing, laughing so hard my nose was running.