“There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings, as now in October” – Nathaniel Hawthorne

1)       The television show The Good Wife.  The writing is smart and suspenseful, the acting is phenomenal.  The pacing is frantically fantastic.  I am obsessed.  I elaborated more in another post, so I won’t beat a dead horse.

2)       I’ve read or listened to 17 book this month, which may be a personal record.  One book really stood out from the rest of the pack – I loved The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion.  It’s an amazing grief memoir that’s helped me a great deal.  It’s also a National Book Award winner and I highly recommend it.

3)      School!  The class I’m taking on memoir writing inspires me and makes me happy.

4)      Old friends.  Why is it that everyday life often gets in the way of seeing old friends, friends who live less than an hour away?  Sadly, it was a condolence call after Edmund’s passing that brought us together again.  I love the Savas family, who we met when Rich and I first moved to Atlanta in the late ‘90s.  Sybil worked with Rich, and her family was always very gracious and treated us like one of their own.

In fact, Rich and I once watched two of the big kids in the above picture for a whole weekend, as a “test run” to see if we were ready for kids.  So indirectly, they’re responsible for our little Smithies.  Sybil and Pete are wonderful parents who we’ve always tried to emulate.  After getting reacquainted with the adults who showed up at our house a couple weeks ago, we’ll try even harder.

Continue reading 13 Things That Created Happiness in the Month of October →