My friend and editor at Makes You Mom, Laura Brown, wrote a list of Twenty Things She Loves and I thought I’d do the same because a making a list is a great way to find a story. If you are interested in writing but don’t know where or how to start, try a “things I love” list and the item (or items) you find you don’t want to stop explaining are probably what you need to write about.**
Here are my “Ten Things I Love” list:
1. Coffee with our without friends at Le Pain Quotidian
2. This space (for writing and lesson planning and staring out of the window). 
3. Brunch at Volt in Frederick, Maryland (actually, doing anything in Frederick makes me happy. I love that town.)
4. The small lakes next to the girls’ school.
5. 2 Amy’s at Happy Hour to celebrate getting tickets for the Easter Egg Roll at the White House.
6. This space, too (for reading and staring at the yarn and thinking, “Today will be the day I teach myself how to knit”).
7. The St. Joseph River. When we first moved to DC, Jesse and I had a conversation about whether or not the water in the Potomac River and the water in the St. Joseph River might meet and maybe mingle in the Atlantic Ocean. After wearing him down some time, he said that perhaps that might be the case and I felt a lot less homesick.
8. Turning on the coffee grinder in the morning and not having to worry whether it will wake the girls. Call me materialistic. Call me high maintenance, but I love being able to walk downstairs to the kitchen and turn on lights, maybe even turn some music, and not have to worry I’ll wake anyone up.
9. Teaching Romeo and Juliet. I was terrified to teach it this year. What if I don’t understand it? Isn’t it too dramatic for middle schoolers (for all of us?) But I love it.
10. Six of us walking around the Capitol towards a pub one Saturday night nine years ago. One couple was engaged, one was in their first year of marriage, one couple had just read a positive pregnancy test and were anticipating a baby in October. Nine years and seven kids between us later, I’m still happy to know all of them and call them friends.
**If you try this activity, and you found a story, Makes You Mom is open for submissions. Maybe consider sharing your work with the world?
{While you’re exploring Makes You Mom, make sure to check out the selection of mom books and mom stories.}
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