Seven delights.
This week’s prompt from a sweet soul: Record a moment of delight that finds you each day this week. At the end of the week, string them together into whatever form you like -- short story, poem, haiku, essay -- whatever suits your fancy!
My prompt for her: Write about what comes to mind when you think of “past warmth.” Her response takes you for a ride through warmly cathartic memories, contemplations, and introspections, and it gives you a glimpse into one of her writing processes. Read it here.
So, here’s a grocery list for my delightful week.
Breathing deeply among graves with my best friend. Every now and then, my best friend likes to visit a grave of great meaning to her a couple of cities away. It’s a whole day ordeal and I have the honor of accompanying her as an emotional support buddy. She’s the one who suggested I give Maxine a name long before I had any conception of her, so it’s safe to say I love my best friend more than I can articulate. When we arrive, she takes her time alone with the soul we drove all this way for while I pace alongside the other graves to contemplate something beyond me. She gets to say hello to someone. I get to say goodbye to something. Afterward, we chow down on Carl’s Jr.
Knee popping during a 405 lb. squat. I haven’t squatted 405 lbs. since February and I’ve been building back up to it amidst constant injuries at a pace I find to be painfully boring. One week you gotta squat 355 lbs., then next week you gotta squat 360 lbs., and so on and so forth. I worked my way back up to my all-time max, 405 lbs., and survived a moment of disaster. Midway through, right at the sticking point of the squat, my left knee loudly popped and I paused with 405 lbs. on my upper back. I pushed through the slight panic and completed the squat, surviving with no torn ligaments but quite a sore knee.
Giggling over a falling cake with my bestie. I have my best friend, and I also have my bestie. My bestie and I share the same brain cells so if something is even somewhat funny, we’re gonna turn into a pair of hyenas. I worked a half-day and made it to brunch with her at a counter-serve café known for dinner crepes. We topped it off by splitting a huge slice of strawberry cake after much expressed scorn over the inferiority of carrot cake (don’t start with me, reader). We chipped away until the slice could barely stand and dramatically tipped over. For some reason, the image of a politician quickly ducking down to avoid a bullet entered our minds, and one exchanged look on the verge of giggles followed by a “GET DOWN MR. PRESIDENT!” spiraled into uncontrollable, face-hurting laughter.
Calmly walking through Costco to heal from disordered eating. When I became extra invested in weightlifting, I quickly developed the disordered eating almost all gym rats attain: obsessively tracking every calorie and gram of protein to the point of food consuming you instead of the other way. I spent months planning out exactly what I’d eat for a whole week. Now, grocery shopping still stresses me out, but I’m slowly returning to a more intuitive, kind-to-yourself approach. One thing that helps is a calm walk through grocery stores with no shopping cart or intention to buy anything. I get to peruse at my leisure with no commitment to calories, gently checking out different yummy-looking items that would help me attain my goals.
Hugging my coworker five times in a minute. I used to share an office room with my dear coworker and I’d break up the monotony of the day by spinning around in my chair to engage in deep conversations ending with a warm hug. It became a practice to give each other hugs throughout the shift and I eventually started calling them “Jakes”, or breaks to hug my J-named coworker. She had to move office rooms, but nothing stops me from taking a Jake to walk down the hall and give her a bunch of hugs to make up for lost time in the shift. She’s extra protective of me, so I’m happy to take many Jakes at the cost of productivity.
Spontaneous ham and cheese croissant. I was so certain Friday’s delight would be dinner with my coworkers at a half-café-half-competitive video gaming venue. While laughing for hours with them over a steak and mimosa (I don’t drink, but Maxine got relatively shit-faced) was wonderful, the moment of delight came from the aforementioned sweet soul herself passing me a ham and cheese croissant for me to enjoy over an episode of Jujutsu Kaisen. I’m on my second bodybuilding cut and I was a little nervous about whether I had enough carbs going into Friday’s deadlift session, then I was suddenly passed an awesome pick-me-up. Another friend passed me a latte shortly after to double down on the delight and get me all wired for the gym. I get real guilty about accepting gifts, but Maxine loves being spoiled rotten with surprises.
Running up to double-high-five a gym buddy. I used to see my gym buddy almost every day, but he now spends most of his workouts at a gym closer to his new home. On this fine Saturday, he showed up for a workout and I stopped my pull-ups to run up and double-high-five him with the same energy as a golden retriever reuniting with their long lost human.
This week’s prompt certainly helped me be mindful of what joys occur on a day-to-day basis.