My Like List

I used to write "like lists" a lot.  They were a way of glimpsing who I happened to be at any particular moment of time.  Of inventorying things that were true about me.  Where I found my joy, what gave me life.  I never thought of them in such epic terms, because they weren't meant to be epic.  They were just the small details of happiness.  Looking back, I think they were a way of laying hold of the blessedness of life.  Of remembering all the ways that goodness surrounded and upheld me.

I bought a new writing notebook a few days ago, and one of the first things I found myself writing was such a list.  It's the first time I've done one since  high school.  I think being here, in Korea, and giving my soul space to breathe,  has helped me recover a place in which such details are the truest thing about me.  Not the aggravations or frustrations or fears or failures, but the small happinesses -- not large or epic, but quiet and true.

This list is in no way some complete catalog of my life's joys.  It's simply the details that came to mind at the moment I wrote it (a few weeks ago now).

My Like List:
- hazelnut coffee in happy mugs
- Mushishi episodes that touch on mystery and longing
- midnight talks with my best friend, who also happens to be my brother
- a good book, and long lazy hours in which to read it
- listening to books on tape while packing, enduring migraines, or falling asleep
- experiencing art my brothers created
- filling hours with projects I set myself to accomplish
- watching the World Cup with Brits
- beer and cider
- winning something on the Wii
- knowing a friend is reading what you're writing
- Farah's moments of languid contentment
- eating Dip-n-Dots by lake Umpa
- being given a duck loofa =)