Smiles for the Soul

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Twenty of them, to be exact

Many years ago, I took on a challenge — to write “100 Good Things About Me.” It’s harder than it looks. We’re used to telling people things like “10 Little Known Facts About Me” or other trivia, and we rarely struggle when it comes to listing our many faults and flaws, thanks to the viciousness of our inner critics. But we balk and draw a blank when asked to list out more than two or three good things about ourselves. Not hubris-soaked, self-puffery but honest, good things about us. Now and then, I add to this list just to remind myself not to let the inner critic win.

Now, I’ve decided to tackle this little 30-day writing challenge.

Oh, God, No — Not Another Challenge!

Why do I do these things to myself? Because, as my grandmother used to say, “You’ve got to write letters to get letters.” In searching for the earlier post, Eradicating Edna, in which I personified my evil inner critic, I ran across a Letter to My Errant Muse, written in 2017.

With this, Muse, the ball’s in your court — again.

Things that Make Me Smile

In no particular order…

• Family. The one I was born into and the one I married into. My husband’s brothers and sister, and his many cousins, were the best of all wedding gifts.
• My husband.
• My kids, who are now young adults, and the knowledge that they are now capable not only of taking care of themselves but also of taking the reins of this world.
• Those moments when the words flow and dance, not effortlessly, but joyfully and playfully. When they come together in ways that surprise and delight even me, that’s sublime.
• Travel. Especially now that both my husband and I are retired, still young enough and energetic enough to enjoy the adventures we have together.
• Tiny tree crabs. And the imagination-magic to turn spiders, which terrify me, into tiny tree crabs — I have declared myself their Protector, and woe be to the man who destroys their weaving before they’ve had their breakfast on a fall day!
• Ordinary people who demonstrate extraordinary kindness.
• Justice. Equity. Fairness.
• Good health. Strength. Stamina.
• Volcanoes, and seeing them in person. (See also: Travel.)
• Swimming, especially in the ocean.
• Parasailing, especially upside-down.
• Reading fiction and poetry.
• Delicious and exotic foods. I will try anything that I’m reasonably sure cannot kill me. The rule in our home is that you can’t say, “Eww, yuck, gross!” unless you’ve tasted the thing. After that, all bets are off. I have a “pre-nup” with my husband —there’s just one thing on it: Neither of us can fix liver for a meal and expect the other to eat it.
• Dancing in the rain. Jumping in puddles. The sparkling, golden light when you’re in the middle of a rainbow.
• Cooking. Baking. Experimenting in the kitchen. The Kitchen Aid stand mixer my sister-in-law gave me “just because.” I do not, however, keep sourdough starter as a pet. (See also: Travel.) Not all experiments are a rousing success, but few have left me furtively trying to escape my mom’s dictum: “The cook has to eat her mistakes.” (See also: Good health. Fitness. Being able to fit into my clothes or buy new ones in a smaller size…)
• Everything. Being alive. If you’re old enough to have gone to Disney World in its early years, you’ll understand what I mean when I say that “Life is an E-Ticket ride.” Tickets came in books of A — E, and there were only about two of the precious E-tickets to a book, so you had to keep buying more books if you wanted to ride all the best and most exciting rides. Life has its A — D moments, but overall, it’s definitely an E-Ticket ride.
• Solitude. I can’t recall ever feeling lonely except in the company of many people.
• Crochet, and the fact that I finally (mostly) mastered it. And the fact that there’s always something yet to learn or a technique to perfect. Crochet and swimming are as close to “meditation” as I care to get.
• Nature. Mostly. Except when it is very red in tooth and claw or very sharp with its stinger — and very close. I have camped in black bear habitat. That was fine; I’d do it again. They seem to prefer berries and insects. I photographed a grizzly bear with a very strong monoscope and my cell phone camera. That’s as close as I care to get. I have been smacked in the cheek by a baby bat and almost stepped on a copperhead. I once saw a scorpion in the wild. I feel absolutely no need to repeat these experiences. That said, I would go back to Brazos Bend — maybe not in alligator mating season — because there’s nothing like a 12' long gator that’s only about 3 yards away to make you feel alive. No, they’re creepy AF. They just lay there, still as a statue — not visibly breathing, blinking, or moving their eyeballs. But you know they can outrun you and kill you if they have a mind to. Trees and waterfalls are nice, though.
• People who can find the humor in anything — not cruel humor, but genuine ridiculousness in our shared experience of life. I don’t do hearts and flowers well; even death can be funny. I expect everyone to laugh heartily at my wake.
• The fact that my brain finally figured out that Sudoku wasn’t math.
• Learning. Anything but math. Numbers give me brain freeze. Are we up to 20 yet? (Now you see why it took me over a decade to learn crochet and why I don’t even attempt knitting.)

Now scoot — I have three more entries to catch up on before the day is done. I hope that you’ll enjoy reading them all!

Holly Jahangiri is the author of Trockle ; A Puppy, Not a Guppy; and A New Leaf for Lyle. She draws inspiration from her family, from her own childhood adventures (some of which only happened in her overactive imagination), and from readers both young and young at heart. Visit her website at jahangiri.us and subscribe to her newsletter at https://hollyjahangiri.substack.com/