Maryam and Jackson don't know each other. And I have not (yet) met either of them in person. But I know them both through wonderful correspondence and through the Sparking-at-Home program.
Last Friday I posted a collective list on the Lost Paper blog:
http://lostpaper.blogspot.com. Then I received two wonderful, long, juicy lists from these 2 writers and I simply cannot resist sharing them with you, right here, on PaintedParrot.
Maryam Steele:
I like garlic in everything
I like making kimchi and tasting it every day to see if it's fermented enough to eat
I like knowing there are mistakes I'll never be stupid enough to make again
I don't like doing yoga while a baby tries to climb on my back
I don't like finding hair in my food
I like hot and sour soup made from scratch, sushi rolled by my nine-year-old, and baby fingers trying to steal my tea
I don't like when people I love move far away
I don't like noisy plastic toys
I like homeschooling and being able to stay in my pajamas all day
I don't like people coming over without calling first
I like getting books in the mail
I don't like anxiety, though it likes me
I like letting my kids draw and paint on the walls
I don't like lawnmowers, unless they are sitting silent in the garage
I like art, our counter stained with ink, kids asking if I'll hang up their purple yin-yangs, and bird-drawing tutorials
I like writing quotes on little pieces of paper and putting them on walls where I'll see them every day
I like that I forget the details of the things people have done to me, even though I retain the sense of caution and wisdom I gained
I like having maps on my walls
I like getting up at 3 a.m. to get three hours alone before the kids wake up
I like watching Korean dramas
I like stitching entire bed-size quilts by hand, leaving the noisy sewing machine in the basement
I don't like shopping
I like freckles, big noses, and crazy wild eyebrows
I like the smell of campfire smoke in my hair and clothes
Jackson Petsche:
I like listing the things I like
I like being me
I like strong tea, old books, sneakers, the smell of fallen leaves in autumn, mystery novels, John Lennon's music, and taking long walks
I like playing Melissa by The Allman Brothers on guitar
I don’t like when pop songs are used in commercials
I like walking around the Hall of Languages, at Syracuse University, wearing my headphones
I like Batman but I don’t like Robin
I don’t like The Rolling Stones after 1969
I like watching my 3-year-old daughter dance to music
I like the smell of old books
I like Pina Coladas (non-alcoholic) and occasionally getting caught in the rain, but I don’t like “The Pina Colada Song”
I don’t like ties, or capitalism, or making myself a sandwich to take to work in the morning
I like seeing the Laura Nyro record I have on top of my bookcase
I like watching the credits at the end of a really nice movie
I like writing songs
I like remembering New York City and I like listening to songs that remind me of living in New York City
I like feeling that I am not alone
I like finding that space in the stillness when I am here in the present
I like wondering, and looking out the window, and reading, and writing, and communication, and a really good love song
I like chocolate cake because my daughter loves it and asked to have it on my birthday; and there is still some in the fridge and I really like that
I like marriage
I like being a father
I like when a song saves my life (for the moment)
I like when technology plays nice
I like when movies end with a freeze frame shot
I like when a song demands to be played a second time
I like . . . ellipses . . .
I like liking things
