practice 'Happiness Manifesto' periodically

—shade on a hot day (even when it is 95 in the shade!)
—refrigeration
—friends and family who actually ENJOY the heat and are cheerful
—a cold shower, however brief
—the approach of Shabbat
—my cookie-baking, Democratic Sweetie

1. Weeds to pull and a yard to pull them in. (Sweetie’s)

2. Sleepy Sunday afternoons.

3. My sons, one of whom is dozing on the couch as I write this.

4. Nordic Walking Poles! My arms are a bit sore from yesterday, not too sore, just exactly right!

5. Pizza, which we will be having tonight to celebrate the end of Passover. (CHOMETZ!)

I’m grateful for:

1. My beautiful grandmother, who died 34 years ago yesterday. I still miss her, and think of her everyday.

2. Ibuprofen.

3. My Sweetie and my sons. They sustain and support me through everything.

4. The education I have been given. It’s really pretty incredible. And I have just begun to put it to use.

5. Kindness. It’s not fun waking up sick or hurt in a hotel room. People here have been very, very kind to me, and I’m grateful.

that I’m in a rather negative space tonight. I have lots of reasons for being there, but it’s not what I want for myself. So it is clearly time for gratitude:

—for a son who will tell me the truth about what he hears and sees from me

—for a Sweetie who does the heavy lifting on the taxes

—for the National Council of Jewish Women, who accepted another carload of unwanted stuff from me today

—for my body, which has held up thus far through this move

—for NPR, which has kept me entertained during all this tsuris

—for having the resources to pay my debts

—for moving companies and movers, so I don’t have to kill myself hauling the stuff I am going to keep.

—for the happy fact that there is already somewhere to move TO.

1. That the poetry reading went quite well.

2. That I’m really, truly in the midst of moving back home.

3. That I’m blessed with loving family and friends.

4. That now I can garden in Cat’s yard.

5. That springtime is here.

—vacation days with my Sweetie

—dominoes

—baseball games

—the beauty of the desert

—Southwest Airlines

—for my dear Sweetie, who laughs with me and sometimes, when appropriate, AT me. She keeps my feet on the ground.

—for the happy solution to my storage and workspace challenges.

—for a beautiful day’s walk in the park by the bay

—for the fun I had reading a novel (“Son of a Witch”) for the sheer FUN of it.

—just to be alive!

1. Shabbat and the restoration of soul it gives me

2. Text messages from my Sweetie

3. The desert, which is so beautiful when people don’t trash it up

4. a paper shredder, that will turn the frightful mounds of paper in my apt into packing material

5. the slow but steady passing of the Evil Flu Bug

1. Family traditions, both old and new

2. Time with the people I love

3. Wine that tastes like sun and rain, earth and the vine

4. Long drives that soothe my mind

5. Southwest Airlines

1. My wonderful family, whom I miss.

2. Text messaging

3. Diet Coke

4. Books with good indices

5. Having had the best Hebrew tutor in the world.