It must have been a TV commercial where I heard the song “My Favorite Things.” I couldn’t get that melody (or the lyrics) out of my head, and I got to thinking about my own favorite things.

One of the wonderful advantages about being older is that we’ve accumulated a great database of memories. Think about your life, write down your favorite things or memories and review them from time to time for additions. What if you had to choose just five favorite things – what would they be? I’ll bet your grandchildren or nieces and nephews would be surprised to know your very favorite things.

One of my favorite things is to spend an hour or so on the phone with a friend from 40 or 50 years ago, and reminisce (and laugh) about our lives when we were full of idealism, hope and a total lack of knowledge of what was to come. These remembrances of times of relative innocence are necessary, if we are to survive our elder years. Watching the terrible news of war and remembering that we’ve been through other terrible wars (World War II, Korea, Vietnam) gives us hope that most of us will get through this one, too.

Another favorite thing is to get onto a dirt road and walk off into a field, pulling blades of grass, watching the grasshoppers leap about and walk far enough so as not to hear any traffic or see any buildings. This is almost impossible to do in Windham any longer, but the memory lives on among my favorite things.

Opening up one of my mother’s old cookbooks is a favorite thing to do. It’s one of Marjorie Standish’s Down East cookbooks. My mother did most of her wonderful cooking without written recipes, but the one book she referred to bears proof of this. Some of the pages are stuck together with dough spatters from long ago. In her own handwriting (and method of abbreviations) she’s got her grandmother’s recipe for molasses cookies (“mix until stiff enough that a spoon stands up in the dough”). That’s inside the back cover. Inside the front cover, is a recipe called Sweet Rolls. I’ll have to try that. Also, saved like a bookmark, is the recipe for cake-like brownies.

When using this cookbook, I remember my mother in the kitchen, lovingly shaping and buttering yeast rolls and placing them on a cookie sheet to rise. I remember her showing children (her own, her grandchildren and any others who happened through) how to measure, how to use care and even letting them help sift and stir.

One of my favorite things to do is to wipe the To Do List out of my mind and escape to the library, down back, in a chair and just peruse a few books that have nothing to do with any of the things on my list. I’ll read about the history of Caratunk, Maine, or genealogy of the Lamson family or scan one of Ruth Moore’s old books. The library is a wonderful place to escape. It’s the only place I know where a person can read without being interrupted.

A frivolous favorite thing of mine (which I haven’t done for years) is to cruise the cosmetic counter in a store that carries the best perfumes. I remember that even my darkest days would be perked up with a few spritzes of Chanel No. 5 or Majorca or some other elegant and expensive perfume.

Are you thinking about your favorite things? Take a few minutes and jot them down. Just remembering will surely brighten your day.