The Sunday Post: 2024 so far

I haven’t done a lot of exploring in 2024 so far. I wrote earlier that I’ve deemed “explore” my word for the year, but January did not offer too many opportunities to do that. I was sick for a couple of weeks, probably the worst I’ve felt in a very long time. This round of COVID knocked me out for a couple of days and the rest of the time I was tired. So tired. I didn’t bother putting on my smartwatch since there wasn’t much activity to track. And forget going to Zumba…

Anyway, I did manage to read four books! The last book I read was Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano, a wonderful homage to Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. It has a passage that struck me when I first read it and then I went through the whole book after I finished it to find it again:

"Sylvie could imagine William walking into the lake, feeling like a tablespoon of water that could no longer stay on a spoon. There had been no more gravity holding him together, and so he'd tried to dissolve into the giant body of water."

I can’t explain what about it draws me. I’m not very good at writing about writing or about books. I guess I like the imagery. There are a many references to water, bodies of water, and it all makes sense since William’s last name is Waters. Overall, a beautiful book about family and what ties them together.

While reading that book I had an idea about turning my journals into something. There are so many stories I can pull from them, going back to my teen years, into college, my first marriage, then the second. I started to write something based on one of the events that still sticks out in my memories, but then I got stuck. After about five hundred words I wasn’t sure where to take it. What was the point of the story? Maybe I don’t have what it takes to be a good storyteller. At least it was a good writing exercise, and maybe one that I will return to and whittle away at it in hopes of polishing it into something worth sharing.

Last night we did do a little bit of exploring in terms of food. We tend to go to the same restaurants when we go out, but last night we went to a neighborhood restaurant that has a reputation for having the best food in Greenville. After our visit we can see why. I won a gift card from our loft management team last year and we used it for a date night “tasting table” experience. That was the best food I’ve had in very long time. By choosing the tasting table option we got to sample everything on the menu, which changes frequently. If you’re in the Greenville area, I highly recommend dining at The Anchorage in the West Village. Treat yourself; it will be worth it.

While there may not have been too much exploring after one month in 2024, I haven’t given up on my goal of making that one of my habits. I’m making good progress on my reading goals, my activity level goals (if you don’t count sick days), and I’m making progress on some work goals as well. I’m still feeling optimistic that 2024 will be an amazing year.