Words of Kindness and Joy

 "Books are a way we leave a mark on the world, aren't they? They say we were here, we loved and we grieved and we laughed and we made mistakes and we existed. They can be burned halfway around the world, but the words cannot be unread, the stories cannot be untold." from The Librarian of Burned Books by Brianna Labuskes 

Books bring me JOY. How about you?

I recently finished The Librarian of Burned Books. It took me awhile to get into the story, but once it captured my attention it has resided in my heart. It was sad, but we all came out positive in the end. It gave me hope.

As you read further along in this post, I am sharing small moments of joy. The one above is a recent breakfast where I enjoyed some freshly made fig jam on a crumpet with my tea. I hadn't made jam for a few years and totally lost sight of the joy of savoring jam made by my own hands. So delicious.

The other joy was having a social media friend send me moon cakes and tea for no reason at all, but because she wanted to share the joy from her hands and heart.

Now a friend mentioned she was reading A Thousand Feasts by Nigel Slater. Since I have enjoyed his Christmas Chronicles each December, I decided to start reading his new book over my morning tea. His books are small essays wrapped around food.His descriptive words always delight me.

I loved what Nigel Slater said in his introduction to A Thousand Feasts. "I see no point in putting pen to paper to preserve anything negative, sad or painful. Heaven knows,there is enough of that. I have no wish to live in a rose-tinted bubble, but if I have learned one thing, it is not only to concentrate on the "positive stuff", but to cherish it. I will admit to seeking it out, to looking up instead of down, to being curious and to hold on, as tightly as I can, to "the good things", however small." He goes on to talk about noticing the "small moments of joy".

Another joy was sharing tea this past Saturday with a group of dear friends. I had connected with this dear lady above, Rui of Grass People Tree (tea business) early in the pandemic on Instagram. I attended several of her tea events on zoom and her heart just touched me. She is in Portland right now sharing tea with new and old friends, all the way from China.

It was so special to have her pour tea and share stories.

Seeing the smiles on my friends faces brought me amazing joy.

And then to also on a recent evening to sit with another dear friend and listen to these two ladies share stories. It just made me smile from ear to ear. If you don't know who these ladies are, they are Hillary Clinton and Tina Kotek (Oregon's governor).

 

In our crazy political world right now, it is important more than ever to notice the "small moments of joy".

Dear friends bring me JOY.

I encourage you to notice what you notice, maybe write down your joys, savor each one and let the joy reside in your heart.

Sending love,

Marilyn