these things are good; these things are worthwhile

Learning new things; ice cream on a hot day; hot tea in winter; patience; passion; keeping promises; respect; the fight for equality; hand-made gifts; home-cooked meals; yoga at sunrise; calling the people you love, just to tell them that you love them; saying ‘thank you’; new school supplies in the fall; someone to help you stand up after you make a snow angel; running on the beach; smiling at strangers; replacing tolerance with acceptance; hand-written letters; tapioca pudding; long hikes; giving things away; floating on a lake or a pool or a calm ocean; the last berries of summer; hostess gifts; beeswax instead of petroleum wax; compost piles; speaking another language; loving someone who loves you back; reusing things; loving someone even if they don’t love you back (but not in a creepy way); long books you wish would never end; reaching out to others; unexpected kindness; sustainability; clean dirt; oatmeal; poetry read out loud; rejection of a life dependent on the suffering of others; live music; caring; curiosity; listening--really listening--to what other people have to say, asking questions.