Since it’s the first fresh day of the brand new year, I thought it’d be as good a time as ever to begin participating in a little project started by Schmutzie called Grace in Small Things. All you have to do is create a list of things—say, five of them—that make you happy, and put it in your weblog. You can do it whenever you want, like once a week or month, or on some other totally random schedule. It sounds easy, but aren’t there some days where you just can’t think of much that makes you happy? I have those days pretty often, where I’m either too grumpy, too busy, or too entirely stumped for fascinating topics to write a blog post, so I’m going to keep my list-making to once every Thursday. Schmutzie’s doing it every day for a whole year, and is nearly to day 40 right now. Some of the items in her lists are so simple (”Humid air after a hot shower”) and peaceful (”Dreaming of faraway places”) that they remind me of the translated lists I love by 11th century Japanese writer Sei Sh?nagon. Here’s an excerpt from Sh?nagon’s “Elegant Things”:
A white coat worn over a violet waistcoat.
Duck eggs.
Shaved ice mixed with liana syrup and put in a new silver bowl.
A rosary of rock crystal.
Snow on wisteria or plum blossoms.
A pretty child eating strawberries.From The Pillow Book
Her lists weren’t intended to be read, but I love how simple pleasures like these can transcend time. I’m hoping that even though I’ll only post my lists once a week, I’ll become more conscious of good things throughout all seven days and remember them for later.
Here are my first five:
1. The appearance of a Bartlett pear: from the scarred and speckled pale yellow exterior to the smooth, off-white flesh on the inside.
2. The satisfying scritch of a nail file.
3. The way the word “delete” feels to write in cursive. It’s like a rollercoaster of letters.
4. My subscription to Glamour magazine.
5. Wild Cherry Life-Savers.
3. The way the word “delete” feels to write in cursive. It’s like a rollercoaster of letters.
Oh, you. I need you in my life.
Thanks for joining! I’m finding it to be a reallly refreshing thing at the end of my days.
You’d probably like writing my actual name in cursive, too.
I don’t– for some reason, the repeating swoops send my hand out of control, and I end up adding extra letters.
Nothing can make you feel dumber than mispelling your own name.
I like to print.