2022 was Caroline Barrett’s year of cheese plates, infused vodka, carbonara
One of the really nice things about the end of the year is looking back on it. I like to ponder it, mull it over, pick it apart. I eat up end-of-year lists: the best of books, of albums and movies, best recipes, for sure, and I’ve even read the year in review for sports news, though I don’t particularly care about any sports.
Looking back on my own year, I’ve been thinking about the best things. And I don’t mean the really big events, like graduations and travels and that sort of thing. I mean the little moments, the small, feel-good times. It’s this kind of stuff that makes the hard times bearable (and there were hard times. There will always be hard times). My favorite kind of look-back is about the good stuff, the things that happen regularly and that we might have taken for granted. So here goes: my round up of small, memorable moments of 2022.
First, I’m going all the way back to last winter, and the best thing about it was the time spent outside. I am sure there was sideways sleet against gray skies and I definitely grumbled as I scraped ice off my car, but in my mind, last winter was full of bluebird days, twinkly and bright, with tree limbs heavy under the weight of freshly fallen snow. Paul and I like to put cross-country skis in the car and drive to the mountains and silently swoosh on trails. We eat cheese and nuts after we ski, and drink warm tea from a thermos. Those days were the best of winter.
Later in the year, there was a weekend when Elliot came home from college and for one and a half days, he filled the house. There was the sound of his guitar and piles of his shoes by the front door. He slept late and ate bagels. In the afternoon, we drank tea and played cards. Having him around was like wearing an old sweater: It was comfortable and cozy and I never wanted to take it off.
In the middle of summer, when the sun was hot and the leaves were ripe and green, Zoe took Paul and me to a place…
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