25 Things that Bring Me Joy

Another Way for week of June 23, 2023

25 Things that Bring Me Joy

What brings you joy? Here is my list, but it could go on for many more pages. I hope it inspires your own thoughts, reflections, and pleasures.

1. I love crawling into bed with a good book: nice to get cozy under the blankets, or in summer, a sheet and one thinner soft cover. It puts me to sleep, which is a good thing, which means I can’t or don’t read many mysteries, because they tend to keep me awake longer. They say that going to bed at a somewhat regular time is especially good for us older folks.
2. I love snuggling babies, watching them look around at the world, and maybe if you’re lucky, they crack a smile at you.
3. I love being retired and love having my husband retired too. Our lives are different now.
4. Traveling. Anywhere, including to visit grandchildren! It is one of the joys of retiring when you don’t have to count vacation days and worry about running out of them.
5. I love singing hymns with a congregation—so often moved to tears of deep connection. I can no longer sing as I once did but with the congregation as a choir, it helps!
6. Flowers. All kinds, all scents. The delicacy and beauty make me happy.
7. Watching the sun come up over our rolling seven-acre hayfield. Every morning, ever new, even when you can’t see the sun, it is joy.
8. A freshly made bed. Wrinkles smoothed out.
9. A freshly made apple pie with plenty of cinnamon. Best when made with Stayman apples from our Shenandoah Valley.
10. The first summer meal of corn on the cob, garden tomatoes, green peppers, meat.
11. A small bowl of ice cream for dessert, an hour or so after supper.
12. Reading books to my grandchildren such as the rhythmical “Drummer Hoff,” and singing “Froggy Went a Courtin’” as they drift off to sleep.
13. A hug you didn’t ask for from a child.
14. A tender and surprising kiss.
15. Hearing from readers of this column, now in papers since 1987.
16. A young groom being overcome with emotion as his bride walks down a long, outdoor aisle.
17. An elderly widow being overcome with emotion as she mourns the loss of her longtime love. I take joy in knowing how much they loved each other.
18. A freshly vacuumed rug.
19. A long front porch with a swing on the end. My husband did not make the swing but he made sure, as workers built our house and finished the porch, that the swing was attached to the sturdiest and safest rafter with heavy duty hooks. We worked together putting the hooks in which took hours one night. And now, grandkids enjoy the ups and downs of that sturdy solid swing.
20. When my Dad was able to get the hay safely in the barn before a rain came. As he pulled the barn door shut, his heart and face were flooded with happiness.
21. How Dad would frequently pause behind Mom’s chair thanking her for the meal and landing a sweet kiss on her cheek as he left the supper table to go watch Walter Cronkite.
22. A summer reunion with siblings or cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents and great grandparents.  
23. Bringing joy to other people whether with a surprise visit, a phone call, a card in the mail.
24. Gathering with a smaller group of people from church who know and share each other’s ups and downs and losses and joys.
25. This joy list reminds me of a wonderful old hymn by Adelaide Proctor: “I thank Thee, who hast made the earth so bright, so full of splendor and of joy, beauty, and light. So many glorious things are here, noble and right.”

What are your joys?

What is your number one?

I first called this “Simple Things that Bring Me Joy” but then I realized that some of these things are not so simple. What title would you give it?

Comment here or send to me at Another Way, P.O. Box 363, Singers Glen, VA 22834, or email anotherwaymedia@yahoo.com. (I may do a follow-up column with your picks.)

Another Way is a column by Melodie Davis, in syndication since 1987. She is the author of ten books, most recently Memoir of an Unimagined Career. Another Way columns are posted at FindingHarmonyBlog.com a week after newspaper publication.