Things to Love

We don’t focus on the things we love enough. Don’t you think? When I was a teenager, a friend and I started a list of things we loved.

It helped dull the grind of 3rd period physics and the ennui of being 16.

In my job as Someone Who is Online, I am lucky enough to talk about things I love quite a lot. Hell, the whole archive of this publication is essentially a compendium of things I love. But in my personal life, when interacting with other adults, I tend to be coy or superstitious or embarrassed about celebrating the little things I love. And when emotions are high and low and wrought and I’m finding myself lost for words, torn as to what to share and how, I find it easier to clam up altogether. During this summer when things are so good and so bad at the same time, I think just turning my mind to those things, and, especially, sharing them with other people, can work wonders.

So let me try. I’m sitting here in my parents’ living room with my dad. He’s on a sofa he usually doesn’t sit on, commenting on the things (paintings, views, plants, objects) he usually doesn’t see from this particular angle. (The man knows how to talk about the things he loves.) He just told me he’s so happy we’re here for the summer. (Ditto.)