HEY THERE
HI, I'M LIBBY — AND I'LL BE YOUR TOUR GUIDE TODAY 👋
When I was little, I wanted to be a tour guide for the City of Chicago. I'd point out the old stones from places like Egypt and Italy embedded in the walls of Tribune Tower; I would present Picasso's towering, perplexing, pigeon-loved sculpture in Daley Plaza; and I'd confidently announce that the Chicago River runs backwards, which — while confusing — felt like a banging bombshell finale to a 10-year-old. Alas, I moved away from Chicagoland when I was 24, and that brief dream did not come to pass.
But old dreams don't always die! They just might come back in different, maybe unfathomable forms. In 1977, I could not have guessed the meaning of the word website. Was it the site of a ... spiderweb?
Now here I am several decades later, typing at home in Boulder County, Colorado, where — what do you know? — I can see from my office window a small spiderweb woven through our front porch railing. Dreams really do come true!
Thank you for joining me on a very slow tour of things that are good in the world.* I'm so happy to be your guide — put on your 50+ SPF and off we go 😀.
With good anticipation,
Libby K. Hanaway
*To read about my search for something — anything — good, click here.
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LIBBY K. HANAWAY
TOUR GUIDE TRIVIA
1. Team photographer for any occasion 📸
2. Non-rugged nature lover: backyard garden, backyard birds + bees, sunshine, water, easy-to-moderate hikes 🌿
3. Family, family, family — and good friends, old friends, new friends, and strangers who become friends. Dogs and dog-like cats. Plus all babies. Social-introvert relationship prioritizer 🔗
4. Steadily variable / variably steady: lived in same vintage Chicago suburb until age 23 / moved 11 times within six states since marrying Rick, who sat in front of me in American Studies junior year of high school. My great guy for 35 or 41 years, depending on how you count 🤎
5. Empty-nest parent of two young adult daughters. Stored-up memories from their little-kid years / big fan of their twentysomething years. Love them, proud of them, and really, really like them, too 🥲
6. Medically-experienced mom. Been on a few "journeys" / fluent in multiple categories of health care language / drove a lot miles / gained some grays 👩⚕️
7. Volunteer elementary school reading + writing tutor: reading is freedom / literacy for all 🤓
8. Sentimental saver of scraps and memories. Full boxes / full shelves / full albums / full digital storage / full mental storage 🕰️
9. Ace problem-solver / excels in strategy games and organizational strategies. Deficits in math, packing for travel, grocery shopping, and time management 🙂 🙃
10. Homebody / traveler. Never ready to take off / always happy to be there 🏡 ✈️
11. Overambitious reader / 1:10 ratio of household books read v. household books yet to be read. Perpetually behind / yet still accumulating 📚
12. Plans ahead for early departure from most social events / once there, usually among the last to leave 🫣 🥳
13. Always editing / slowly adapting from old-school grammar. Still committed to double spaces after periods and most — not all — Oxford commas. Clarity > rigidity / simplicity > complication / authenticity > AI ✏️
14. Emoji enthusiast 🤗
15. Appreciates that you've read this far / would enjoy having lunch together 😁
