What delights you?
This was a writing theme posed by Heartland Women Writers. The idea came from Ross Gay’s “A Book of Delights.” Gay tasked himself to write about one “delight” each day for a year. This is not necessarily a list of gratitudes (but it can be similar), but these delights are small, seemingly inconspicuous moments, acts or observations. And the more Gay wrote about the delights, the more he found them.
I thought about this – what delights me – and I kept coming back to the small act of a person opening the car door for me, or walking beside me instead of in front of me. Someone who kneels down to tie or untie my shoe during a run. Or someone who refills my drink because they noticed it was low. Such small things, really, but so meaningful too, because those gestures say so much about the person.
Many years ago, Sophie and I were at a neighbor’s house in San Diego and the couple was in the kitchen fixing chicken. I was sipping a drink and noticed the husband say to his wife, “Be careful, Judy, some of the chicken liquid got on the counter by you.” And then he grabbed a paper towel and cleaned up the counter. This observation/gesture is nothing really; it’s completely normal. But I’ve never forgotten it.
Maybe that’s all I want (all I’ve ever wanted) is the simplicity of that small delight.