100 Things That Made 2022
/It’s the most wonderful time of the year, the time for making lists. I love lists. They make me happy, calm me down, and push me forward into the future – especially lists of happy things and good times.
When we look back over our life, and over the previous year, we tend to remember the bad over the good.
Why is that?
Two reasons: 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 and covers over our best memories with the debris of daily life.
Therefore, we must intentionally 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 8th 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, flip through the photos on your phone, comb through your calendars, review your reading lists and music purchases, and ask those who are close to you. It can be a lot of work, but trust me, 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.
100 Things That Made 2022
(By the way, this list has been randomly sorted. Trying to rank items by importance is paralyzing.)
1. Fleece pullovers
2. Quote: “God loves you the way you are, not the way you ought to be. None of us are the way we ought to be, and never will.” (Brennan Manning)
3. Donating my 129th pint of blood (16.125 gallons).
4. Sharing cartoons on my Facebook page.
5. Book: One Long River of Song, by Brian Doyle
7. Book: Lonesome Dove, (Larry McMurtry)
8. Podcast: Clear + Vivid (Alan Alda)
9. Movie: Top Gun Maverick
10. Holding hands with Cyndi while sitting on the couch and watching old TV episodes.
12. Book: Where the Light Fell, by Philip Yancey
13. Attending the Chicago concert in Midland with Freemans and Grigsbys.
14. Book: Where Good Ideas Come From, by Steven Johnson.
15. My friend, Paul, who loaned his trailer to us to fill with demolition debris from our bathrooms remodeling project. He went with me to the city dump to unload it, where we were the oldest trailer unloaders out of two dozen crews.
16. Finding Mick Herron, another author to follow after I finished reading all of John LeCarre’s books. I’ve finished his first two novels: Slow Horses, and Dead Lions.
17. Hamburgers with tater tots at Blue Sky
18. The Wonderful Name Christmas celebration and worship at First Baptist Church – playing in the orchestra was energizing.
19. Watching the original Magnum P.I. series with Cyndi and remembering when we made the same fashion choices in the 1980s.
20. Quote: “They don’t put championship rings on smooth hands.” (Brent Venebles)
21. A Get Well Soon card from my yoga class homies.
22. Mailing birthday cards
23. Iron Men Muster with Jeff Andrechyn. I love introducing my guys to the men that have spoken into my own heart and life.
24. My black Lululemon Sojourn Jacket, a gift from Cyndi.
25. Soft-Cover, black, squared Moleskine Journals
26. Movie: The Lost City
27. Making beef runs to Texline, which means, spending the entire day with Cyndi.
28. Leading a Sunday School teacher training program with Clark.
29. Bill Britt with Integrity Massage – he keeps me moving.
30. Thumbing through Facebook memories each morning, reinforcing those fun, clever, and meaningful things that I had forgotten.
31. Taco Tuesdays … a family staple for over 25 years.
32. Podcast: Broken Record (Rick Rubin and Malcolm Gladwell) … especially interviews with Tedeschi Trucks Band, and Bonnie Raitt
33. Quote: “Good, wise hearts are obtained through lifetimes of diligent effort.” (David Brooks)
34. Quote: “Good teaching is just saving people time.” (Ian Cron)
35. Playing in the FBC orchestra and Midland College Jazz Band with Cyndi
36. Dr. Vineyard and the Carrell Clinic in Dallas. They operated on my left foot and ankle June 22nd, and thanks to them, I have better walking and hiking days ahead of me. (I just powered through four days of 8-10 miles per day, chasing Cyndi and Katie through Disney World.)
37. Quote: “Simply put, it is never the perfect time to begin.” (Alastair Humphreys)
38. Ruthlessly blocking hateful people on Facebook
39. Book: Liturgy of the Ordinary (Tish Harrison Warren)
40. Regular dinners with Britt and Patti Pyeatt
41. Playing in the worship service with Rabon, Craig, Jeff, Shumie, and Laurlyn.
42. Quote (when asked about his life as a music legend): “The part I didn’t know was that it would be a 50-year bus ride.” (Merle Haggard)
43. Sharing insights from daily Bible reading on my Facebook page.
44. Movie: Operations Mincemeat
45. Quote: “Don’t listen to people who have one piece of advice.” (Seth Godin)
46. Wedding of Mier Simpson and Josh McClellan. Not only was it a joyous occasion, dancing with Cyndi at the reception was the best my left foot had felt in months.
48. Thanksgiving meal with Darin and Julie Wood and family and friends.
49. 31st annual Midland Storytelling Festival. We’ve attended all 31.
50. Cyndi’s homemade apple pie
51. Quote (about knowing your calling): “What has God put in you that he wants you to give to the world?” (Gary Barkalow)
52. The cookies Cyndi leaves in my kitchen drawer … just for me!
53. Quote: “Things that frighten me: Relying on the past for my identity.” (Alastair Humphrey)
54. Our large tribe of clever, intelligent, godly friends. Sometimes if feels like we have more than our share.
55. Cycling.
56. My new rolling tool chest that Cyndi gave to me for my birthday
57. Book: The Geography of Bliss, by Eric Weiner.
58. Movie: Hector and the Search for Happiness.
59. Giving a talk – sharing my heart - about mentoring, at Base Camp Gathering.
60. Our Family Vacation to Disney World
61. My research trip to New Mexico to visit Forrest and Ruth Brockman and see first-hand the remains of Tolar.
62. A Facebook post that I originally wrote in May 2018 but rediscovered this year:
Cyndi and I went to the Wagner Noel last night to see the Sound of Music, and as I sat watching I realized why I’ve always liked this musical so much. I’m married to Maria.
She is: free-spirited, loves music and being outside, spreads joy and energy in every room she enters, sings in the hallway and the abbey, does the macarena in the church balcony while running the media computer, dances while playing percussion, gets nervous when she realizes how much people are noticing her yet cannot stop herself from moving to the front of the room and taking over, and has turned this square-cornered captain into a dancer and poet and musician and lover.
63. The peace that comes from not watching 24-hour TV news
64. Working on my first novel, my first attempt at writing fiction. I hope to publish it soon.
65. Sudoku puzzles
66. Traveling down the highway listening to audio books with Cyndi
67. Cyndi Simpson in yoga pants
68. Movie: Summer of Soul.
69. Serving on the Midland Development Corporation board.
70. The Field’s Edge grand opening celebration.
71. Touring the Dallas Makerspace with Byron and Angela.
72. Wrangler Relaxed-Fit jeans. Skinny jeans don’t work for me.
73. Christmas caroling with the Grace and Compass Sunday School classes. We had about sixty people. Caroling is a tradition that should not die. It is important.
74. Watching Cyndi worship with the church media team.
75. Energel Liquid Gel Ink Metal Tip 07mm ball pens
76. Listening to Amy Grant sing Christmas while slicing vegetables in the kitchen for our Thanksgiving dinner.
77. Reentering church leadership. Specifically, serving as chairman of the church council. It was a fulfilling, deepening experience.
78. Witnessing my granddaughter Landry’s baptism at Rush Creek Church Mansfield West.
79. Regular phone calls from my brother, Carroll; even when they are about futbol.
80. I’m up to 5-mile walks, still recovering from surgery last June.
81. Movie: The Jesus Music
83. Finishing the year with 2,889 books on my reading list (since 1986). Send me your list; I’ll send you mine.
84. Book: A Burning in My Bones – biography of Eugene Peterson (Winn Collier)
85. Base Camp Gathering in Colorado with my Noble Heart friends
86. Knee scooters: a great invention. They can be awkward, but much safer than crutches for a 66-year-old and make it possible to move through an airport very fast. (And my friends Darrell Hopkins & Skeet Doss, who loaned their knee scooters to me.)
87. Kevin Willhite with Soft Touch Chiropractic Clinic. He keeps me straight and pain-free.
88. The Midland Art Crawl at Cyndi’s yoga studio and playing Christmas jazz with Craig and Rabon.
89. Madden’s entry into the family business – distance running and trombone playing
90. Book: Ruthless Trust (Brennan Manning)
91. Playing trombone with Denver and the Mile High Orchestra in Alpine and Midland, TX
92. Quote: “Hope is a discipline.”
93. The Anti-Gravity treadmill at Paradigm Physical Therapy.
94. Handing my high school trombone, a 1973 Conn 88H, to my granddaughter, a beginning trombone player.
95. Tuesday morning gentle yoga class.
96. Book: Miracle and Wonder (Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam, and Paul Simon)
97. Hearing a rooster crow at the post office – someone mailed a rooster!
98. Mailing family stories to my granddaughters.
99. Quote: “There’s no point in me doing anything if I can’t write about it,” (David Sedaris)
100. Journey Groups. I’ve grown close to so many great men.
