1.
Watching “Covert Affairs” on USA Network.
Piper
Perabo (Coyote Ugly, Cheaper By the Dozen)
as Annie Walker, a CIA operative with kick-ass shoes and a big, brave heart;
Christopher Gorham (“Ugly Betty”) as her hot, sweet, and smart as heck
colleague; exotic locations befitting the creators of the Bourne
movies …. What’s not to like?
2.
Reading every issue of Garden & Gun Magazine.
Sure,
it’s filled with ads for vacations and second homes in places only a seer-sucker-wearing
millionaire may be able to afford, but the articles are prime: written by wonderful
Southern writers like Alison Glock, Julia Reed and Roy Blount, Jr. and covering
topics from football to holes-in-the-wall to musicians to the great Southern
beverages, it is becoming my new favorite little magazine-that-could.
3.
Taking naps when my three year-old daughter does.
No,
I don’t have the time to really do this, and yes: I should be doing a hundred other
things when this occurs—including studying, grading papers, writing Novel #2, promoting
the upcoming release of Keowee Valley,
or cleaning my house. But lately, I’ve been tired. And it has felt
oh-so-wonderful to lie atop the blanket on my bed, under the fan, and just let
go.
4.
Reading books by first-time authors, like me.
Recently
I finished Kimberly Brock’s The River
Witch (Bell Bridge Books), and was utterly entranced by her mystical
settings (Appalachian small town to the Georgia coast) and beautifully-drawn
characters.
Currently, I’m reading Jon Buchan’s Code of the Forest (Joggling Board Press), a Southern political
thriller with language so crisp and so bourbon-soaked I can hear the characters’
Lowcountry accents as I read.
Discovering these two debut novelists publishing
with smaller presses reminds me that there’re SO many good stories out there
just waiting to be heard—many, many more than sit on the New York Times
bestseller list. No, these are not on my approved MFA reading list. Don’t tell
my advisor.
5.
Drinking apple juice.
I
know, seems childish, right? But I loved apple juice as a child, and I love it
still. We’ve got a huge bottle of Ingles brand organic apple juice in our
fridge, and I’m sharing it with my three year-old.
6.
Dreaming of Fall.
The
sycamores are already shedding their leaves, and at night our temperatures in
the mountains drop sometimes into the low 60s. Fall is on its way, and I’m so
ready for my very favorite time of year! On our family agenda (and by God, we
will make it happen): apple picking at a local orchard, hikes, drives on the
Blue Ridge Parkway, fires in our fireplace, and college football.
7.
Reading a modern classic novel.
Yes,
I mentioned I’d been reading others. But last month I also read Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient for the first time,
and I’m smitten. Now I’m into his book of poems, The Cinnamon Peeler. If you’re like me, and never read the The English Patient but did see the
movie, don’t let the cold formality of the film keep you from delving into the
novel. It’s a fragmented, dream-like, gorgeously rendered account of three very
different people brought together in an abandoned Italian villa at the close of
World War II. And it will stay with you long after you’ve put it down.
8.
Taking a yoga class for the first time.
I
just started a Basic Yoga class at the college where I teach, and though I’ve
only been once, I’m already hooked. One night a week, my husband finishes up
work a little early and watches our daughter while I, with rolled yoga mat
under arm and water bottle in hand, head to join several other women of various
ages. I’m not good at yoga—in fact, I’m as tight as they come from years of
hiking and trail running without stretching. I’ve been sore for the past three
days, since my first class. But lying on the floor in corpse pose, silent, for
the 15 minutes at the end of class, my mind as relatively clear and free as it
gets these days, is heaven. With each “Namaste,” I’m determined to follow
through: to give of my “highest self” to my loved ones' highest selves.
9.
Drinking as much water as is possible.
This
is simple, really. I fill my bright green, severely dented aluminum water
bottle up several times a day with crisp, cold water from our Brita pitcher.
And I gulp it down like it’s the last drink I’ll ever have. It’s delicious,
good for me, and gives me something to do.
10.
Letting my daughter walk beside the stroller, even when we’re a mile from home.
Several
days a week, if I can, I pick my daughter up from preschool with the stroller. Pushing
her, it takes me about 12 minutes to make it home. But lately, when we get to
the sidewalk, I’ve been letting her walk. Even when I’m tired. Even when I’m
impatient, hungry, and ready to be home. She struts in front of it with an
athlete’s bounce in her step, sometimes painstakingly slow, sometimes at a
full-out run. She picks up rocks in gravel driveways, studies ants, waves at
joggers and people on their porches, sometimes even sits flat-out in the middle
of the sidewalk, just for the heck of it. Her blonde hair is usually a scraggly
mess, the fanny of her pants stained from sitting in the dirt. And she does not
look back at me, not even once.
What do you enjoy doing, in the midst of your busy life?
