Becoming 60 - Part III

Through the end of the year - I’m writing one post a month about my thoughts on becoming 60. The theme for this month is about pleasure. Articulating the aspects of my life that I find pleasurable gives me added opportunity to savor how plentiful they are - which is also a way of being thankful (Isn’t that the overall theme for November with the Thanksgiving holiday coming up?).

As I started thinking about the pleasures of my days I realized that most of them are not complicated or expensive. Some of them must be sought or require effort on my part…some just happen and all I need to do is notice. Here are 5 pleasures I’m acknowledging today - November 1, 2013.

Seeing beautiful images of nature - in photographs, through a window, in paintings. Being able to capture the moment with a photograph of my own, reinforces the image in my memory. I have become a much more visual person in the past few years. I think it is caused by spending time collecting historical botanical prints (electronically) and then taking 1000s of photographs.

Sharing life experiences via conversation. I am an introvert so initial meeting of someone new is never easy for me….but I forge ahead because I enjoy the conversations that come afterwards and the possibility of new friends.

Accepting family. Everyone in my family assumes we are together for the long haul and, to make that assumption possible, accepts family members as they are. There are family members that have known me my whole life. I’ll probably outlive them. There are the ones born after me that I have known their whole life and expect that they may very well outlive me. It is the cycle of family. We don’t choose each other…but we accept. What a pleasure it is to know that there is always at least one group of the world where I will always belong!

Shopping for groceries. I usually do not like shopping; shopping for the sake of shopping is not something I do; grocery shopping is the only ‘shopping therapy’ I can imagine as a pleasure. I make sure I get to the store when it is not crowded so I can move at my own pace - which is usually brisk unless I am researching something new and taking time to read labels. I’ve added quite a few new items over the past few years: quinoa, kale, hummus, almond milk, and frozen blueberries. It takes creativity to buy the right amount of food to last a week and not buy the same things all the time.

Reading a good book. Once I admitted to being an introvert - most people should have guessed that this one would be on my list of pleasures. It is easier now that it used to be to keep good books near at hand. There are so many free books online (Internet Archive or my library) and paperbackswap  has filled up my ‘to read’ space (and I’m still working down my wish list).

Earlier posts:

Part I theme: The future looks bright

Part II theme: an interlude to choose the best for the rest of my life