Delights and Never Agains
Finding joy in the every day
I started this post to share about my childhood as a Highly Sensitive child, and then time passed, and I gave the book The Book of Delights by Ross Gay to my husband for his birthday. Before I wrapped it up, I read the first essay. That one chapter lit me up. I decided it was time to switch from my gratitude journal to a daily delights journal. Rob Walker called these fleeting moments Never Agains.1
I started with just a few words noting things I found delightful, and then the other day, I realized that I needed to give the delights more attention. If I only have the time and energy to give the one delight its due, that is fine.
Here are a few recent delights which I hope you will enjoy and maybe even find inspiring.
My Christmas tree is very fake. I decided if I wasn’t going to have a real tree, I wanted the tree to not look real. I found the perfect one 12 years ago and it’s still going strong. It’s sparse and white and the ornaments become the center piece of the tree. Each ornament connects me to memories of my past. There’s one ornament in particular that seems to have the most powerful time traveling elements.
Growing up, our school was off the Monday after Thanksgiving for parent/teacher conferences. A group of us (three moms and 6 -8 kids) headed into Chicago before the sun rose to have breakfast next to the giant Christmas Tree in the Walnut Room at Marshall Fields. It was amazing, exciting, and completely overwhelming. After breakfast, we walked through the toy department and made sure we knew what we wanted to ask Santa to bring us for Christmas. Then we waited in line to visit Santa in the Cloud House. We headed to the Christmas ornaments and got to pick out one new ornament for the tree. After all of this, we headed outside to see the display windows which were decorated with moving characters and a whole wonderful Christmas story. A full day in just half a day and in the noisy over heated car we drove home. One year I chose this little Chimney Sweep. It was a stand-in for Dick Van Dyke as Bert in Mary Poppins. Each year when I pull out ornaments to decorate the tree, I get to relive the wonderful and overwhelming memories of Christmases past. This Chimney Sweep is over 50 years old now, his little ladder has been broken for a long time, but he holds a treasure trove of memories.
This past Thursday, I attended the Ukulele Strum and Sing at my Library. I got to play my new ukulele with the group for the first time. I’ve only been attending for a few months and yet, I have made several friends. I was able to keep up with chord changes on a lot of the songs, and just writing this brings a smile to my face for the laughter, songs, and joy of connecting with a fun group.
I met with my critique groups this week and that is always a delight. Each member is a very special friend who I have not yet met in person. While talking with my Friday group I was cutting pieces of green paper with a pair of shape edging scissors. I find cutting paper to be very soothing and the little pieces looked like pine trees. I just kept cutting and cutting and then after our meeting, I sat and made a collage. Gluing and allowing a scene or character to appear is as good as or maybe even better than the feeling of cutting paper.
My phone has a Google News Screen that I accidentally slide on to periodically. It populates a lot of news about space and psychology. Two things up my alley. I clicked through to Space.com and learned about the Christmas Tree Cluster. It’s a Cosmic Christmas Tree!
Two Picture Books that I have fallen in love with recently. When I say I fell in love with them, I mean I have purchased them and every chance I get I tell people about them or make them sit still while I read the books to them. And, not just to kids. To anyone who I think will love them the way that I do.
Santa Shark: A Great White Christmas by Mike Lowery While, it won’t arrive in time for Christmas unless you pay extra for special shipping, I just love all the puns and Edgar and Lotta the Crab, and the endearing friendship and illustrations.
and Stickler Loves the World by Lane Smith I love Stickler as much as Stickler loves the world. This is a huggable book that you will want to read over and over again. Who cares what the kids thinks. You will want to hug the book unless you are reading the book and as soon as you finish reading it, you will hug it again. “Many strange creatures lived in the part of the forest where shadow met tree. But the strangest of all was Stickler.” May you find many new sticks throughout the year.
I’m delighting in the scent of freshly baked Pumpkin Crunch muffins and wallowing in the happiness that all the presents are wrapped and ready to go.
What Delights / Never Agains have you been experiencing lately?
What delights me lately, Sarah, is seeing writers/illustrators like you become confident to shine.
Well done and thanks for sharing! I will be watching for more magical moments.
Sarah, your collage is wonderful. I've never done collages but a few artists I follow do it, so maybe I'll try it. Using pinking shears is brilliant.
Anything by Mike tickles my funny bone. My mom would have loved him. She loved crazy puns.
And your chimney sweep story is precious. We don't celebrate Christmas anymore since the kids grew up, but I used to buy each of them an ornament each year, chosen to reflect their personalities. I should have let them choose one, as your mom did.
You brought joy into my day, and I've had so much already today I'm going to burst with it.