The Joy Document
About this book
Once you begin looking for joy, you can find it pretty much anywhere.
When Jennifer McGaha's grandmother was in her late eighties, Jennifer asked her what her favorite age so far had been. "Fifty-five," her grandmother answered, as though there were something magical about this stage of life, some deeper way of knowing from this vantage point. So, in her own fifty-fifth year, Jennifer began to take note. She jotted down her impressions of simple, everyday things that struck her as beautiful or humorous or intriguing and kept a list of all the accomplishments, large and small, that actually mattered to her.
These observations became Jennifer's Joy Document, a radical act of reclaiming joy and an exercise in paying attention. When you are determined to find joy, almost anything can becomerevelatory--an Earth Day Whole Foods errand, Claire Saffitz's fruitcake recipe, a harrowing ride in Twinkly Taxi, an evening picnic at Dvořák's Symphony No. 8, or cartwheels in the driveway. While many of us at midlife have found all the things we've strived for (the career, the better life, the organization tools), those things only go so far. And the search for something greater, something truer, begins. Through this lens, life after fifty becomes not the end or even the middle of life, but a new beginning, another grand adventure with endless opportunities to find joy. The Joy Document includes fifty rollicking and often humorous essays exploring the art of joy and inspiring the rest of us to do the same.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- Introduction
- 1. The Joy Document
- 2. Hanging in There (and Going Higher and Higher)
- 3. Cartwheels on a Gravel Road
- 4. Twinkly Taxi
- 5. Storytelling
- 6. Spice Up Your Life
- 7. The Beauty of the F Word
- 8. Gin and Bear It
- 9. The Chair of the Sidewalk Department
- 10. Mixed Messages
- 11. Folly
- 12. Eighties Expertise
- 13. Hot Stuff
- 14. Deer Romance
- 15. Willies
- 16. Subjunctive Mood
- 17. Wild Things
- 18. Wishing
- 19. Revision
- 20. In Synch
- 21. Surprisement
- 22. Name Calling
- 23. The Art of the Compliment Sandwich
- 24. Bathroom Troubles
- 25. Badass Biker Women
- 26. Truth Telling
- 27. Best Guesses
- 28. Free Fallin'
- 29. Gambling
- 30. Making Tacos
- 31. Goatly Passion
- 32. Haywire
- 33. Pie for Breakfast
- 34. Sand Nativities
- 35. Trifles
- 36. Ribbon Candy
- 37. Three Dog Mornings
- 38. Headshots
- 39. Seal Talk
- 40. The Guardian of the Lady Slippers
- 41. Game On
- 42. Backpack Burritos
- 43. The Trouble with Fiona
- 44. Do Not Give Notice Yet
- 45. Sacred Spaces
- 46. Magical Spring
- 47. Feel-Good, Freewheeling, Earth-Loving, Asheville-Scented Vibes
- 48. Common
- 49. Car Drop
- 50. Light Up My Life
- Guiding Questions: Creating Your Own Joy Document
- Acknowledgments
