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Basic Joy

Anne Bentley Waddoups

“Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.”

— Mary Oliver

Hello, I'm Annie, an American living in Australia. Writer, researcher, professor, mum. Enthusiast: developmental psych, innovation, ideas, travel, design, stories, and a good laugh.

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“Be joyful though you have considered all the facts.”

— Wendell Berry

First time here?
A few posts to get you started:

Marriage
Passing the bridge of sighs
A modest proposal
A modest proposal ii
Adeste fideles

Life
Uncurbed enthusiasm
Liner notes to growing up
Sunday dinner @ 135
Playing big
In praise of late bloomers

Parenting
Triptych
Bless her heart
Paging EB White
Nine and a half
Madeleine, 16
Keystone parents
She holds these truths
Louie, Louie

Latest Instagrams:

Day three of my cross country drive. 🇺🇸 Don’t feel bad for me—I love a good road trip and the wide skies and open roads always seem to jumpstart my creative thinking. Zen driving! ✨ (This post brought to you by Diet Coke and gas station restrooms.)

There’s no one I would rather embark on a new adventure with—and we’ve got a pretty exciting one ahead. We’re moving to Abu Dhabi at the end of the summer! Excited, delighted, and a little bit overwhelmed. #WaduDhabi

From Sam in Angola: “This week we went to a Family Home Evening with a family that moved here from Portugal 8 or 9 years ago. As we were talking about where we're from, they wanted to see what our neighborhoods were like in the US, so we told them our street name and they all looked on Google Streetview to see where we came from.

Afterwards, they wanted to show where they all grew up, so we jumped over to Portugal as they excitedly clamored, "Oh, search this place! Go over to this place!" When their childhood home appeared on the screen, it was clear it was the first time in years they'd seen their beloved old house.

Immediately, memories and tears and squeals surged through: "That window! That was my bedroom!" "Go down to that old lady's grocery store!" "See that hill? That's where I fell on roller skates when I was 7!" "That street is where we always used to hide and play!" A spirit of fondness and joy filled the room. Then, they found the old chapel they used to meet in, a classic white and red Portuguese building on a hill. "That's where I was baptized!" The family closeness, wrought by those past places and fond memories, was overwhelming.

There's something brilliant about the places we have loved, especially in families and in the gospel, that brings us back together and brings feelings we have lost or forgotten--love, testimony, innocence, joy--rushing back into our hearts
...
We don't need to live in the past, but we should stop and reflect every so often on our past places and stories to glory and give thanks to Him who gave them to us, or to rekindle those past peaks to "sing to his praise forever" (Mosiah 18:30). I invite you all to do that this week: revisit your beloved places, virtually or physically, in a spirit of faith, love, and gratitude. I love you all and I’m grateful for the ways you all have helped me in all of my past places.” Man, we love and miss that boy. (Man).

Plenty of opportunities to display my bright BREF* this weekend. 33.4 miles in the books on our Great Saunter of the shoreline Manhattan Island. 🙌🏻✨ Or as I like to refer to it, our three-day NYC cafe crawl.
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*Bentley Red Exertion Face

Our NYC Great Saunter, day one. 10.6 miles ✔️
(We’re sauntering! We’re saunterers—we saunter now!) #greatsaunter

Reading:

RT @Maxsather: A timeline of colors of Mr Rogers sweaters. https://t.co/L9dyXm33sf
about 2 weeks ago
RT @tarawestover: From Kazuo Ishiguro’s Nobel acceptance speech. Stories are about one person saying to another, This is the way it f… https://t.co/UYGqHD7aME
about 2 months ago
Ouch and yep. https://t.co/yvDy5pKdpm
about 4 months ago

Writing Elsewhere:

Segullah
Letters to a Parent
Nest and Launch

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