A Few of My Favorite Things
2025-06-10 · 2 min read
My dearest incurable humanist, My Favorite Things , from The Sound of Music , sung by Julie Andrews in her sweet melodic voice, is the kind of song you forget until you need it. Then suddenly, there it is. “Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens…” The Sound of Music (1965) When I was 12, I…
My dearest incurable humanist,
My Favorite Things, from The Sound of Music, sung by Julie Andrews in her sweet melodic voice, is the kind of song you forget until you need it. Then suddenly, there it is.
“Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens…”
When I was 12, I devoured The Clique series by Lisi Harrison. Claire Lyons (Kuh-laire – if you know, you know) had just moved from Orlando to Westchester and was being bullied, rejected, and left out. I felt seen. I was bullied too. At recess, I’d sit alone with those books like they were my friends. I remember Claire singing My Favorite Things to herself to stay calm. I’d forgotten that detail until recently.
The other day, I listened to the song again. I wasn’t an adult, or even twelve. I was five, back on the couch with my mom and grandma, watching The Sound of Music, not knowing yet how much comfort can live inside a song. Memory does that. It loops back. It arrives unannounced.
This past week, I’ve been overwhelmed. Writing felt hard. The noise of the world pressed in. The news made it worse. There’s a line at the end of the song: “I simply remember my favorite things / And then I don’t feel so bad.” And it got me thinking about Claire, about being twelve, about what still calms me down when everything feels too loud. So, I made a list. A short one. Just ten things that make me feel less fragmented. A little more like myself.
1. My husband making coffee in the morning. A few quiet minutes together before everything begins
2. Cooking and experimenting in the kitchen
3. Cherry blossoms. Summer breeze. Autumn leaves. The first fall of snow
4. Trying a new restaurant
5. French modernism—Courbet, Manet, Caillebotte
6. Wandering a museum alone
7. Taking a long walk with the late afternoon sun soft on my face
8. A crisp gin martini or a cold glass of white wine, catching up with a friend
9. A good book. The right song. One of those Audrey Hepburn films I know by heart
10. Calling my mom
That’s it. That’s my list.
You can make your own if you want. It won’t fix anything. But it might help. Sometimes it is enough just to remember what steadies you.
