100 Things That Made 2021
/It’s the most wonderful time of the year, the time for making lists, and I’m still at it. Lists make me happy, calm me down, and push me forward into the future – especially lists of happy things and good times.
We tend to remember the bad over the good since most good things stretch out over long periods of time, but bad things happen all at once. So the bad things stick in our memory while the good things fade to the back. Also, we have an Enemy who tries to rob us of joy and love.
Therefore, we must remind ourselves of the good things, the grace-filled things, the influential things, and the things that make us human. Living with gratitude is the secret to a meaningful life, and this exercise of listing people, events, and things that made the year better is a powerful move toward having a habitually thankful heart.
Writer and artist, Austin Kleon, taught me to do this, and thanks to him this is my 7th edition. You may notice some repeats from my previous lists. That’s on purpose. I love the good things that stick year after year, and I want to call them out.
I encourage you to put together your own list, and don’t stop until you can identify at least 100 things. It won’t be easy. You may have to find help to remember the best, so dig out your journals, comb through your calendars, review your reading lists and music purchases, and ask those who are close to you. It’s worth the effort.
And when you do, I hope you share. A big part of imbedding gratitude in your life is making it known.
(By the way, this list has been randomly sorted using the magic of Excel. Trying to rank items by importance is paralyzing.)
100 Things That Made 2021
1. Lunch with my former colleagues, the Mayor, City Council members, and City Staff, reminiscing good times.
2. Quote: "When you’re young, it’s easy to confuse strength with dominance; when you’re older, you realize the feat of character it takes to be meek. I used to imagine my calling was to defend the Truth. Now I’m just trying to figure out how to love.” (James K. A. Smith)
3. Book: This Odd and Wondrous Calling: The Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers (Lilian Daniel and Martin Copenhaver)
4. Song: Anyone At All, Carole King (from You’ve Got Mail)
5. Holding hands with Cyndi
6. Quote: “About 80 percent of the writing I do looks nothing like writing. It looks like reading, or daydreaming, or driving, or drawing, or listening to music, or lying on the floor, staring up at the ceiling.” (Elizabeth Percer)
7. Successfully replacing the 12-volt battery in Cyndi’s Lexus hybrid without smashing my fingers or throwing out my back.
8. Dinner in El Cajon with Randy and Sue Luce
9. Ruthlessly blocking hateful people on Facebook
10. Attended a Michael W Smith concert in Midland with Pyeatts and Hodges.
11. Summer Lawn Concerts at the Museum of the Southwest, in Midland.
12. Fly fishing in the Guadalupe River with Byron
13. Reentering church leadership
14. Regular phone calls from my brother, Carroll … and because of his new after-market hip, dreaming of future bike rides together
16. Christmas concert at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville featuring Amy Grand and Vince Gill.
17. Specialized Tarmac Elite road bike
18. Watching my son, Byron, teach his niece and my granddaughter, Madden, how to peel and mash potatoes.
19. Bear Trap Ranch
21. Working on my first novel, my first attempt at writing fiction
22. Quote: “The greatest call of a spiritual director is to open the door to the opportunities for spiritual growth and sometimes to provide a glimpse of the great mysterious light behind the curtain of life.” (Henri J. M. Nouwen)
23. Online conversations with Jeff Andrechyn about the fulness of life.
24. Book: Think Like A Rocket Scientist, by Ozan Varol.
25. British television series, New Tricks
26. Playing music with Rabon Bewley
27. Gran Camp 2021
28. Playing in the FBC orchestra and Midland College Jazz Band with Cyndi
29. Blue Bell vanilla ice cream, my summertime reward for each bike ride longer than one hour and 95*
30. Soft Cover black squared Moleskine Journals
31. Listening to Cyndi’s excitement when her students find deeper understanding.
32. Playing solos with the Midland College Jazz Band
33. Our large tribe of clever, intelligent, godly friends. Sometimes if feels like we have more than our share.
34. Two garage doors that work.
35. Our Family Vacation to Seacrest Beach, Florida
36. The Quiet Room at Centennial Library finally reopened (after Covid shutdown).
37. Base Camp Gathering in Colorado with my Noble Heart friends
38. Story: While donating blood, a big bodybuilder sitting beside me finished up and stood, wavered a bit, then walked on. He asked, “If someone big like me falls down, how do you women get me back up?”
“We don’t. We put a blanket on you and a pillow under your head and leave you alone.”
39. Sitting with Cory on the back row of our church orchestra
40. 100 continuous days of working out (and hoping this is only the first of many 100-day projects).
41. Movie: The Adjustment Bureau
42. A dress-up date with Cyndi to the High Sky Crystal Ball.
43. Uncovering the actual date of my baptism with help from Kermit friends: January 19, 1964.
44. The Delta Flyer podcast
45. Celebrating the life of Robert Walter.
46. Journey Groups
47. Riding the Paluxy Pedal and Tour de Agua bike tours with my brother, Carroll
48. Receiving letters from my granddaughter, Landry, and writing back to her.
49. Book: Everything Happens For A Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved (Kate Bowler)
50. Playing trombone with Denver and the Mile High Orchestra in Tyler, Texas
51. Quote: “I have everything that I wanted as a teenager, only 60 years later.”
52. Playing with the FBC Praise Band with Rabon and Craig
53. Cyndi soloing on the vibraphone at our Christmas concert.
54. Leonid & Friends
55. Donating 123rd pint of blood
56. Green Chile Chicken Stew from Market Street.
57. Book: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (John le Carre’) -(book, movie 2011, TV mini series 1979 (I like them all))
58. Energel Liquid Gel Ink Metal Tip 07mm ball pens
59. Quote: “I shall never forget you. And in all my troubles past and all my troubles yet to come, I'll never find a better friend.” (Kris Kringle, Miracle on 34th Street, 1994)
60. My Panama hat
61. My first time to testify as a witness in a courtroom trial, and it was on behalf of a great friend.
62. Magazine interview with James Pankow, trombone player with Chicago, titled “Making the Trombone Cool for 54 Years.” I still play trombone today because I heard Pankow play a solo in 1971.
63. Movie: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
64. Discussing life plans and future projects with Gary Barkalow and Sam Williamson
65. 30th annual Midland Storytelling Festival
66. Gentle yoga class
67. Kevin’s graduation from Marine Corp Boot Camp in August in San Diego.
68. Hike to the summit of Guadalupe Peak with Iron Men, my 21st time on top.
69. Sitting on the couch with Cyndi watching TV episodes together – a practice we learned during the Covid Shutdown of 2020.
70. Road trip to Tyler with Craig Freeman
71. Watching granddaughter Madden blossom as a gymnast. I have no idea where she hides all that strength in such a tiny body.
72. 2020 Summer Olympics (held in 2021)
73. Watching the 2021 New York City Marathon on TV. It was the first time in the past ten years I’ve felt left out.
74. Forty Ways to Keep Your Lover
75. Finding my books on the Local Author shelf at the Centennial Library in Midland (I look for them every time I pass by.)
76. Movie: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
77. Lunches with Chris Cruz; he always takes me a new restaurant I never knew existed.
78. Watching Cyndi decorate cookies
79. Song: Wouldn’t It Be Nice, by Trousdale
80. Trusting Cyndi when she says celery juice is worth it.
81. Reading beside the stream in the park near my house
83. Cyndi’s homemade apple pie
84. Working on Granbury lake house projects with Katie
85. Sudoku puzzles
86. Playing a Conga-Trombone duet with Cyndi for the 11:00 service at our church.
87. Donating eight boxes of books to the Midland County Friends of the Library (don’t worry, I still have more than plenty).
88. Cyndi playing the congas.
89. Story: Cyndi was singing songs from The Sound of Music, so I joined in.
Me: “I am sixty-five, going on sixty-six, I’ll take care of you.”
Cyndi: “That doesn’t work.”
Me: “But you need someone older and wiser.”
Cyndi: “That just doesn’t swing.”
90. Daily writing practice
91. NB 1540v2 running shoes
92. Mailing birthday cards
93. Traveling down the highway listening to audio books with Cyndi
94. Regular dinners with Britt and Patti Pyeatt
95. Cyndi Simpson in yoga pants
96. Returning to the MS150; riding with a strong southerly tailwind.
97. Bill Britt with Integrity Massage – he keeps me straight and loose
98. The peace that comes from not watching 24-hour TV news
99. Fleece pullovers
100. Walking around the neighborhood ponds across from our house with Cyndi
“I run in the path of Your commands, for You have set my heart free.” Psalm 119:32
