NOW A LIST
Sometimes I make lists of good things to remember when I need to remember good things. Today while working on the book I wrote down these over the course of a half hour or so…
-How much I love a change in the weather. (Even when the sky darkens unexpectedly like it did just now.) I think this is from growing up in Southern California where any bit of weather was momentous.
-Lawrence, Kansas. Lawrence is getting good. You should move there.
-Having plans for the future and thinking of those plans.
-Building a fire.
-Being around people who are working very hard to do something important. You’re caught up in the thrust of it, in the blood they put into the thing.
-Good tequila with some lime. I can’t remember the last time I’ve had a drink. (Sometime this past fall maybe?) I haven’t quit. I’m just too busy, and for the most part I forget it’s a thing I like.
-Conversation in small groups of people you like.
-Night drives listening to songs.
-Boats.
-The song “Longest Day” by Three Mile Pilot. As a proper San Diegan I’ve loved the Black Heart Procession forever, but have just got into Three Mile Pilot a few weeks ago. The first show I went to as a teenager (if you don’t count when Struggle played the Mission Bay High lunch court), Three Mile Pilot headlined (it was a one-day fest and they were billed above Jewel, which sounds insane) and I didn’t get it. I do now.
-A good knife.
-Being outside when it’s warm.
-Rereading John Steinbeck.
-Going to the city when you’ve been in the country for a long time. Going back to the country when you’ve been in the city for a long time.
-Swimming. Anywhere but in the sea most of all.
Your lists are a thing that get me through hard days. I had my boss bring in the DIY Guide to the book shop I work at, and I was reading bits of it to the customers on Saturday, and that helped on a hard day. Your book sits facing folks when they are buying their books. (I’ll take a picture of it next weekend)