What Sparks Joy

Though I’ve never read Marie Kondo’s book or seen her show, I like the term “Sparking Joy.”

Here is a list of what consistently sparks joy in my life.

1. Watching the opening credits of Last Week Tonight and hitting the pause button at just the right second to see the weekly custom title card.
2. Saying “Alexa, turn on the light” and having the light magically turn on.
3. Walking from the house into a fully-lit garage or basement … those happy welcoming lights are on every minute.
4. Coming home from work and seeing Gary’s car in the garage, after years of coming home to an empty house.
5. Coming over the hill on Page heading West after Bennington and looking at that fairly unsullied horizon.
6. The key change when Pete Seeger sings We Shall Overcome at Carnegie Hall.
7. The morning hair-washing / tea-making ceremony without a wasted second, in which I wash my hair in the four minutes it takes to steep my tea.
8. The way my soda can fits in my pulled-out bedside table drawer, and how the power-strip and music books fit in the side panels of the guest room sleigh bed.
9. The pantry, with the pots and pans hanging on hooks and the spices in tins on the back of the door.
10. The black-eyed Susans outside the kitchen window.
11. The daffodils that still come up outside the laundry room at the end of February.
12. Mom’s picture filed in my bill basket.
13. The powerstrips installed under the desk and table that so there are no droopy wires. Everything is dressed so snugly that it looks as if the table is wireless.
14. Waking up every day without an alarm, because I’m done sleeping.
15. The framed silkscreen of me from high school.