Observe and report

For reasons that should be obvious from some of my earlier posts, my anthem for this summer is Bowling For Soup’s 1999 song “1985.”

These lyrics in particular really resonate with me lately:

She’s seen all the classics, she knows every line
Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, even St. Elmo’s Fire
She rocked out to Wham!, not a big Limp Bizkit fan
Thought she’d get a hand on a member of Duran Duran

Where’s the mini-skirt made of snake skin?
And who’s the other guy that’s singing in Van Halen?
When did reality become TV?
Whatever happened to sitcoms, game shows, on the radio was

Springsteen, Madonna, way before Nirvana
There was U2 and Blondie and music still on MTV
Her two kids in high school they tell her that she’s uncool
‘Cause she’s still preoccupied with 19-19-1985
(Woo hoo hoo)

She hates time, make it stop
When did Motley Crue become classic rock?
And when did Ozzy become an actor?
Please make this stop, stop, stop!

I can’t stop time, and I can’t go back to my 20s, so I must find joy in the present. And in the present, I find joy in little things.

Here’s a non-comprehensive list in no particular order of 50 things of things that make me happy.

1. Doing impressions with Eddie of Tim Gunn.
2. When Gideon yells “I love you, Mama” in crowded places.
3. A hot, hilarious, handy husband
4. Deciding to give up hoping that certain people will stop saying mean, untrue things about Eddie and me.
5. Realizing that my best will never be good enough for some people, and coming to terms with that (a corollary to the above).
6. Greek yogurt
7. Greek yogurt with pomegranate
8. Montessori school
9. An iTunes playlist on which artists such as Lady Gaga, Will Smith, Amy Winehouse, OK Go and the Dixie Chicks live together harmoniously.
10. Kenny Chesney’s “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy“
11. When my mother-in-law isn’t speaking to us
12. “Everything” bagels
13. That my father found a woman who makes him happy in his post-Mom life.
14. Shopping for groceries
15. Trying new recipes
16. Having friends over
17. Close female friends I’ve had for years who “get” me (Trish, Linda, Julia, Tina, Khaki, Heidi, Sophia and Terri come to mind)
18. Funny male friends (Royce, Billy, Edgar, Alex, James, Ed, Michael — I’m talking about you)
19. Facebook and Twitter
20. Certain past and present students
21. My Beer of the Month Club membership
22. Grammar, punctuation and spelling errors in the wild because it means fodder for this blog
23. Hearing the kids sing along to Owl City’s “Fireflies“
24. Primary colors, especially blue
25. Coffee, specifically in a Starbucks frappuccino
26. That I killed a venomous snake by myself
27. Entertainment Weekly and People magazines
28. AP Style
29. “Amazing Race,” “Survivor,” “Project Runway,” “Top Chef”
30. Knowing how to make certain meals, such as empanadas with Spanish rice, without a recipe
31. Dominic’s interest in science
32. That Eddie and I know what each other is thinking with one look (a code look)
33. Cheese
34. Cranium
35. Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Puffs (of course)
36. Chickens
37. That I can figure out a way to get to New York roughly twice a year
38. Week 10 of the quarter
39. Apple products
40. Leaves changing in the fall
41. Christmas Eve
42. A quiet house
43. Candles
44. Living near lakes, the ocean, and people with pools
45. Petra’s strawberry cake
46. Ida’s Iranian cutlets
47. Dragonflies
48. Zunzi’s
49. “Walter the Farting Dog“
50. Bedtime