26 September 2010

Sunday Evening Post

I've always liked Sunday evenings, they're a time to wind down from weekend activity and re-charge before starting another week. I think one of the great secrets of happiness is a grateful heart and that's something I have tried to cultivate. My friend Will, an Episcopal priest, sometimes updates his Facebook status with "grateful." That's all. Good for him. Here are some things I'm grateful for.

My kids. Everybody brags about their kids being the world's best, but mine really are.

My extended family. Sure, a few of us don't see eye to eye on everything at the moment and some issues need to be worked through. But they are my family and I love them all, regardless.

My friends. I am so richly blessed in this respect. Time and again they have rescued me from disaster. I love them all and they know who they are.

Sunglasses. My pale-colored eyes really need them. I would not have made a good Eskimo.

Dark chocolate, 72% at least. Cures the sweet tooth with minimal caloric intake and definite health benefits, and if you know the right brands to buy, the taste experience can be amazing. No, Hershey's industrial quality bars don't qualify. Use them to patch your roof.

Sleep buttons on remotes.

The sound of lawn sprinklers going off at 3 a.m. IDK why it's so soothing. Almost as much as hearing the soft rush & rumble of distant 18 wheelers whizzing by in the early hours of the morning through an open window at my grandma's house in St. George, when I would stop there to spend the night during college years or we'd go there for Thanksgiving. Savor the times that make the memories, folks, 'cause they pass too quickly.

Key fobs with buttons that unlock your car before you get there.

Black cherry Kool-aid. My mom used to make it all the time during the summer. To me it still means home and happiness.

Faith.

Seeing the kaleidoscope, not the monochrome.

Rugby and baseball, without which we would be stuck with soccer, American football, and basketball. Unendurable.

Rachmaninoff's melodic gift, Bach's genius with counterpoint, and Beethoven's laughing lion's roar.

Costco roast chickens which, after meat is removed and the rest is boiled for hours with celery, onions, carrots, bay leaves, garlic, kosher salt, fresh peppercorns, and a little sugar, make the best chicken stock in the world for the best homemade chicken noodle soup in the world for the best kids in the world.

1 comment:

Jack said...

Thanks for a particularly evocative post. It reminds me to pay attention to even the smallest joys of life. Reading your list was a great way to start my new week.