Certain movies. My son walking in from school and throwing down his duffel bag. Steven Sondheim. Broadway show albums from any era. E-mail where friends pop off and are hilarious. My instant-messaging friends. Work well-done. Shoes that are comfortable — I’m serious, shoes that are comfortable are a gift. A long walk, five miles or seven, uptown to down. Mass. Seeing my friend Tom in the back of mass. Babies. Babies. Babies. Dogs. Remembering Glopie the cat who, in her last days, had some sort of neurological disorder, and would walk into the room, see something that wasn’t there and jump on it and make it run away. Then she’d look over at me like, ‘I protected you again.’