19 Things I Heart (2015)

Exactly four years ago, I posted a list of 19 things I was loving at the time.

As a novelist who has written an entire novel in lists (preorder here), it’s not surprising that my blog and social media is peppered with lists of various kinds.

I especially like making lists like these because they allow me to look back four years later and see what has changed in my life. Back in 2015 when I wrote the list, I set a reminder in my Google calendar to check back on the list today, which was a very clever thing for the 2015 version of myself to do.

Good job, former me.

I wondered:

Am I still enjoying the same things, or have my tastes changed? Will I think the 2015 version of myself was odd? Stupid? Naive?

Am I the same person, or am I a completely new person?

The list, it turns out, breaks down into three categories:

1. Things that I still love

2. Things that I no longer love.

3. Things that I now take for granted.

I’ll write a new list for tomorrow for 2019. Here is how the 2015 list breaks down:

THINGS I STILL LOVE

• Chipotle burritos

• Tickling my children

• My wife in a tee shirt and underwear

• Bruce Willis action films while on the treadmill

• Carhartt socks in place of slippers

• Moth StorySLAMs

• Jeff (my friend)

• Egg McMuffins

THINGS I NO LONGER LOVE

• Listening to my kindergarten daughter read to me (she’s in fourth grade and prefers to read independently)

• Better Call Saul (between seasons)

• 1776 by David McCullough (I’m sure it was great but I don’t remember much about it)

• The Lyle Lovett Pandora station

• Cold water from a metallic water bottle

• Holding my dog in my lap after work (she passed away last year)

• Any day over 35 degrees (35 degrees? Give me a day over 50 and I’ll be happy)

THINGS I TAKE FOR GRANTED

• Overcast (podcasting app)

• The Memory Palace (podcast)

• UNU battery pack (for my iPhone)

• Squarespace