lists, dates, happiness, ...

i am an avid list maker... i make lists for everything.

what i need to get at the store. what i need to pack before a trip. my daily chores. my weekly chores. my bill due dates. to do lists. what to do this week. what to do before the baby comes. what i want to to do in the next year. lists of clothing i wish i could buy, makeup products i want to try. lists of my favorite books, books i want to read, books i have read this year. this list could go on and on.

lists make me feel like my life is in order. although it is not, although i have half written lists, half crossed out lists, half dreamed lists in my head, the lists really do little to help me in life.


when matthew and i were newly dating, we went to barnes and noble one night. i found this book...

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wmc3cgAjw0k/SqxH6pfCUSI/AAAAAAAAF0U/M10Ipv9MH1g/s400/Book+Cover.jpg

it is a huge list. a list of 14,000 to be exact. i carried it around with me, and smiled at the lines on the inside of the book. matthew bought me a frappacino, and we walked up and down the aisles of the barnes and noble touching the books, and breathing in the new page smell. we oogled sports books, and games, and novels, and classics, we looked at the bibles, and all the center aisle displays. we giggled, and talked, and avoided touching hands as we grabbed for books among the stacks. when i grabbed that book, i didn't want to let it go, i walked it around with me as we continued to look around the store. as we were leaving the store, matthew grabbed it out of my hands, and carried it with him up to the checkout aisle. he bought me that book. and i think i loved him then... and i was so happy to have that giant list book.

Barbara Ann Kipfer compiled this list from 20 years of lists and journals. the pages contain snippets of what make her happy, and lots of things that make everyone happy. trivial things, silly things, and deep heartfelt things. i love this book, and i often pick it up to glance at the joy inducing list between its cover.

things like:
salad served with a chilled fork
touch football games
memory lane
Dior gowns
Watermelon Day at camp or a park
when you drop a glass and it doesn't break
the smell of a baby's skin
raking leaves
full freezers
big paychecks
remembering being picked up and rocked to sleep in someone's arms. then carried up to bed
stopping to think about how you wish it could be and realizing how good you've got it
time tested friends
ice cold cocktail glasses
snapping towels at people (matthew's favorite past time)


i just love this list. i love this book. i love thinking about the day i got it, and how i loved matthew even then... he didn't know it yet. but i think he may have loved me too.

i love the simplicity of a list, and the simple things that can make you happy.

i love that in reading this list... you can see and understand that beauty, and joy, and love, can lie in everything.


what are 5 little things that make you happy? i'd really love to know...

Comments

  1. 5 little things that make me happy...

    1. a child eating an ice cream cone, and the pools of sticky ice cream gathering at their elbows

    2. my 64 ounce insulated water bottle keeping my water ice cold at work all day

    3. freshly washed sheets

    4. waking up in the same position you fell asleep in

    5. getting a pedicure with your mom (or mom-in-law)

    ReplyDelete
  2. a hummingbird coming to our feeder
    fluffy clouds in the blue sky
    warm windy days
    a diet dr pepper with ice
    light beams

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous09:42

    I want that book!! :D I loooove my lists too!

    1) Homemade fetticine alfredo
    2) Reading the comics in the newspaper
    3) Walks with my fiance
    4) Petting the sleeping cat
    5) Hot cup of coffee in the morning with cream and sugar

    Bethany, daughter of Jean in Wisc from Shades of White (don't know how else to identify myself...)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous09:59

    movie popcorn

    stitching on my grandaughter's quilt (she'll be here in late Aug.)

    grandkid camp, Camp PapaMamie (he's Papa, I'm Mamie)

    laughing about silliness

    hiking

    ~Mamie~

    ReplyDelete
  5. gina12:58

    We had that book in my house too!
    And Barnes and Nobles...I could spend a fortune there..
    I do a gratitude list every night before I go to bed. It usually looks something like this:
    1) my son, my husband
    2) our health
    3) a job I love
    4) good coffee
    5) my garden

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lists make me happy too. I'm like you, lists EVERYWHERE on paper, on my phone, on my computer, on my blog, in my head.

    1) a 'thinking of you' snail mail card
    2) homemade ice cream
    3) a really cold gin & tonic (extra lime) on a hot day
    4) showtunes (ala glee style)
    5) knowing that God's got my back

    ReplyDelete
  7. Jennifer14:11

    1. Babies and kids that smell like sunscreen
    2. tan lines
    3. finding a great hole in the wall restaurant
    4. down comforters
    5. a cold blue moon with an orange..especially on a hot day

    ReplyDelete

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