constellations #28: thank you notes

Hi again.

I used to be a daily meditator (briefly) and for a short time in 2019 I wrote down things I was grateful for every day. It was nice, but I fell off both habits last year — when, to be honest, I probably could have benefitted from them most. So it goes.

Anyway, I mention it because for this week’s constellations I am borrowing a form from a newsletter called thank you notes by Justin Wolfe. The newsletter describes itself “presentness as grace? idk. notes of thanks every day.” (Don’t you love that? A short, profound thought phrased as a question appended with an “idk” — the kind of writing I aspire to.) Mostly, lately, the newsletter has consisted of lists of things for which the author feels grateful; in that style, here is a short list of such things from me:

Hot cocoa, especially at the end of a long, cold day (or a long, cold run/bike ride)

The first post-Trebek episode of Jeopardy that my house watched — hosted by Ken Jennings; we all agreed he did a great job — had “Insane Clown Posse” as one of the categories and both Ken and one of the contestants made jokes about it

Also one of the Jeopardy clues on that episode led me to land on this Wikipedia list of famous elephants

M has a habit of accidentally but ruthlessly pocketing people’s lighters and last week he brought down all the lighters he had from our bedroom and arranged them in rainbow order on the table in our living room, which felt to me like a small show of penance to our roommates, the rightful owners of most of the lighters

Being on the email list for a clothing company based in Australia and getting emails in January celebrating their “summer essentials” and remembering that summer will be here, in this hemisphere, someday

Reading the table of contents for a book of essays and seeing the names of so many of my favorites and feeling like I’m about to be in good company

Biscotti

This tutorial from Vanessa Carlton (yes, she of traveling piano fame) for how to cut your own hair (which I followed, and it turned out fine!)

Also realizing that Vanessa Carlton has made a ton of tutorials on her IGTV, many of which focus on preparing various fruits

Learning about the concept of “the errand friend,” which is a type of person I both hope to be & miss spending time with

Having life present me with a couple opportunities to simply act as if I am already ready, or already smart enough, or already capable of something I am not quite prepared for, and recognizing those opportunities as such

The buds on my Christmas cactus, which appeared last week, and which make me feel so weepy and grateful I almost don’t want to put it into words

Waking up in time to see a marvelous sunrise a few days in a row, and having time to appreciate it

I hope your life makes you feel grateful this week. Next week I’m going to take a little break; see you back here in two Tuesdays. Thanks for reading.

xo,
M