Friday Fragments of Happiness

Yesterday's hearing in the Senate (to investigate the new charges that the Supreme Court nominee sexually assaulted a women when both were in their teens) was worse than I thought they would be--and I didn't even watch them.  As I was driving home at 5:00, NPR was broadcasting live from the hearing, so I did hear a little of the nominee's testimony--or was it an opportunity for Senators to blab on and on?  I switched to a CD of Mavis Staples.

So, to make myself happy, let me make a list of what has made me happy this week:

--Yesterday morning, I met a friend for coffee.  How wonderful to have a friend with whom I can have coffee, and we can pick up right where we left off, even though we haven't seen each other in a month.

--There have been many moments at school where I have had opportunity to reflect how lucky I am to work where I do.  Yesterday afternoon I had a long conversation on the phone about accreditation requirements--and it was a joy, not a chore.  This week has had lots of good moments:  New Student Orientation, videos that I took at the Orientation that turned out to be better than I thought they might be, work on various projects, planning for future projects, and reminder and reminder of how wonderful my colleagues are.

--Yesterday after work, we went to our neighborhood friends for our regularly scheduled cheese, crackers, wine, and good conversation.

--We brought a bike for the daughter of these friends.  Her joy at seeing this bike that had been festooned with glitter and fake jewels made me so happy.  That bike was left behind by the last person who lived in our cottage.  I'm glad that we kept it.  If our friends' daughter wants to keep the bike, I'll be happy to let her have it.

--Our house has level floors for the first time since we have lived here--hurrah!  The remaining wood planks for the floor came in and yesterday, they were installed.  All this blather about trade tariffs has made me anxious to get all of our home repairs done.

--At the end of the day, I watched the reboot of Murphy Brown.  I loved this show when it was first on the air.  I'll keep giving this show a chance, but by the time it aired, I had already heard or read the good bits in reviews and previews.  I have to admit that I wasn't as much in love with the show as I once was.

--The show made me remember Monday nights in grad school.  A group of friends would gather at our apartment where I'd have made us all a vegetarian meal.  We'd eat and talk and finish the evening by watching Murphy Brown together.  I feel fortunate to have had that group, and I'm also feeling lucky to have similar community now.