NOT HOW MUCH YOU DO BUT HOW MUCH LOVE YOU PUT IN THE DOING

Sleeping in and walking up at leisure. Rainshower sunbursts with the pounding rumble of a sudden downpour. The smell of paint and turpentine, a heady bouquet. Vacuuming the house and folding the clean, soft, fresh-scented laundry. The white globes of the new hanging lamp in the dining room glowing in the light of the full moon as I pad across the house in the darkness. Good news from my sister, chatty telephone conversations with my brother. An evening over at friends, stuffed full of good dinner and great dessert: baked green apple crisp with vanilla bean ice cream. A positive-sounding...