My friend Stacey Hurley used to have apple crisp and Trivial Pursuit parties.
She would make this legendary apple crisp, invite everyone over to her beautiful home, and we’d spend the evening playing Trivial Pursuit.
It wasn’t an elaborate production.
It was simply good friends, a game, and some exceptional apple crisp.
But there it was, written on a page in journal number six, as one of the things that brought me joy.
And the moment I read it, I could feel it again.
Thirty years later.
That’s what struck me about looking through my old list of joyful things.
They didn’t stop producing joy when the experience ended.
They kept paying dividends.
There was the joy of looking forward to the party.
The joy of being there.
And now, three decades later, the joy of remembering it.
It turns out that a wonderful experience may be one of the few things that becomes more valuable after you’ve already consumed it.
It turns out that a wonderful experience may be one of the few things that becomes more valuable after you’ve already consumed it.
I can still remember Sunday night movies with Tim and Darlene.
An afternoon sitting by the real wood-burning fireplace at the Delta Meadowvale, reading magazines and drinking hot chocolate.
Going to the movies at Celebration.
A great day of golf with good friends…or the epic “3rd-Annual-Once-In-A-Lifetime-Scotland-Golf-Adventure”
None of these were what you’d call monumental life events.
They were ordinary moments that somehow earned a permanent place in the highlight reel.
I think there’s an important lesson in that.
We often imagine that creating a joyful life requires bigger things.
More money. More time. More freedom. A spectacular vacation somewhere.
But sometimes the moments that stay with us are apple crisp and Trivial Pursuit on an ordinary evening with people we love.
So maybe the question isn’t only
“What brings me joy?”
Maybe it’s also:
“What could I create now that I’ll still enjoy remembering 30 years from now?”
It probably doesn’t have to be extravagant.
It may just need the right people, a little ritual, and something worth remembering.
Stacey, if you’re reading this, I still remember the apple crisp. :)