These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

It’s my birthday, and I’ll do what I want to. Therefore, I’d like to personally recognize a few special moments I hold in my heart, all of which are far greater than any gift I could receive today or tomorrow.

These are a few of my favorite things—36 for my 36 years. What would yours be?

1. Watching the fireworks from my hospital room when Szaba was born.
2. Ryan’s expression as he stepped toward me on our wedding day.
3. The weight of Pavlov in my cupped hands at the Oklahoma City airport.
4. Watching fishing families leisurely stroll the beach at sunset from the boardwalk bar of the Tubkaak in Krabi, Thailand.
5. Adventuring through the fields behind Grandma’s house with my sister.
6. Witnessing autumn dump buckets of paint on the mountainside of Denali.
7. Spending time in my dad’s science lab after school.
8. Seeing my own amazement mirrored in Sue’s face at Casa Batllo.
9. The emotional pictures in the words of Virginia Woolf and D.H. Lawrence.
10. My mom’s storytime felt boards.
11. Witnessing Jeff Tweedy crone, within reach, in the blue smoke of Lounge Ax, Chicago.
12. Homemade paella al fresco on a Mallorcan farm on the eve of Roger and Katrin’s wedding.
13. Surprising our friends with armloads of cheeseburgers after Margo and Jay’s wedding.
14. Learning history from Shirley over a glass of Riesling.
15. Watching a quartet hauntingly traverse a dark lake at the bottom of a cave on the Spanish isle of Mallorca.
16. Finding my little sister hiding in my luggage when I was packing for college.
17. College.
18. Hearing “Wish You Were Here” for the first time.
19. Snorkeling and boat picnicing off the coast of Bali.
20. The immersive fantasy of the Salvador Dali museum.
21. Manhattans in Manhattan; Singapore slings in Singapore; margaritas on Isla Margarite.
22. My first glimpse of Seattle from the plane the day that I moved here.
23. The necklace Sue gave me and what she said.
24. The satisfaction of sanding all the wood floors of our house (though I would never do it again).
25. The beating heart of Hong Kong.
26. Seeing Cindy Sherman’s art in person.
27. Good times and deep conversations over stiff margaritas at Cesar’s, Chicago.
28. The prehistoric Hall of Mosses hike in Olympic National Park.
29. Our girls’ week of musicals in London.
30. Some of the happiest of happy hours at Las Casas de la Juderia, Seville.
31. Tango dancing.
32. Meeting my sisters’ daughters for the first time.
33. Raising close friends with one of my best friends.
34. Having the means and ability to write every day and be my own boss.
35. Starting each day with the joie de vivre in my daughter’s eyes.
36. Discovering new things about the world, my loved ones, and myself for 36 years and counting.

What’s your list?

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