That's what I was just saying.
Anticipating some "small, delightful experiences" to celebrate Younger Daughter's twenty-three years today, starting with brunch at IHOP-at her request. Daddy-Daughter Days are one of our more delightfully recurring experiences. 1999, when so many were so weird about the impending millennium, was for our family the beginning of a wonderful era... the beginning, that is, of phase two of the wonderful era that began with Older Daughter in 1995.
To Enjoy Life More, Embrace Anticipation
Looking forward to something can be almost as good as experiencing it..
...Anticipating a smattering of small, delightful experiences can be as enjoyable as looking forward to one big event, said Carrie L. Wyland, a social psychologist at Tulane University in New Orleans.
"At the end of every day, write down one thing you're excited for tomorrow," she said. "Maybe it's a new book or getting doughnuts or a package you're expecting."
The accumulation of these mini-thrills means you'll still reap the benefits of looking forward to something, even if it's not a big-ticket reward, said Christian E. Waugh, a psychology professor at Wake Forest University who studies anticipation.
"Plus, with the nearer stuff, there's more of a sense it's going to happen for sure," he said. "You've got more control over a small gathering this evening than a vacation in six months."
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Holly Burns, nyt
Right. The springs of delight can flow at will. Oh to be twenty-three, with a lifetime of small, delightful experiences ahead. Henry at Walden was just a little older when he said he "left the woods for as good a reason as I went there," having "several more lives to live." More delight means more lives. More life.
We used to get excited anticipating our next small encounter with Henry, too.
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