Dear Readers,

First, a thank you to Gretchen Rubin for her One-Sentence Journals that last for five years. I started my first one on October 17, 2017, and finished five years later on October 16, 2022. That felt like a big moment of completion. And then I started over again in a new journal three days ago.

I love writing about my day every night before bed. I love looking back at what I did on this day for the past few years. No matter how good the record of a day is, I never want to go back to any day in the past but always am looking forward.

A few new happiness-boosters in my life right now are:

1) The recent discovery of the all blue eggs from Costco.

2) The Mary Oliver poem I am memorizing.

3) The book we are reading for small group (wow!).

And a few old happiness-boosters that aren’t going away any time soon are:

1) Omelets on the daily (unless it’s a Tandem day).

2) Roasted squash on everything….this was butternut squash on my salad last night, along with acorn squash on my Chicken Tikka Masala.

3) Happy Cow butter - but somebody STOP THE PRICE INCREASE.

I realize most of the happy things I mentioned are food-related. I am also happy about many friendships, about this school year at Veritas, about the sunshine, about Village, about my reading life, about getting to ski in October, about seeing deer, about writing letters, about making progress on the photobook I’m working on, about my new phone case, about my new Tandem t-shirt and my new Athleta sweater, about my very quiet house on Tuesdays and Thursdays, about Cash’s happiness about the upcoming basketball season, about Taylor Swift’s new album coming out tomorrow.

And now, dear God, take these seeds of happiness and let them grow into movement from my inward self outward. I want to see, hear, understand how to take what I have been given and use it well. This is my prayer, that I won’t become insular in my own happy thoughts, but will be ever mindful of the needs of others and that their happiness will matter to me too.

Love, Ginger