It all started on the first day of 2020. I received an e-mail from Mary Rose, and she had listed three things that were good news.

She said she had: “lots of sunshine, a raisin bagel for breakfast, and soft cats to pet.” In reading those wonderful words, I realized that I, too, had a “cinnamon bagel,” so I decided to send that, and some other positive thoughts back to her.

Then the next day, she sent me another couple of good things that had come into her life, and I returned a couple more good things of my own.

We have continued to write back and forth each morning about the “Good Things That Happened Yesterday,” and it has become a routine we have kept up for the entire month of January, as well as every day so far in February. What a joy it is to know that Mary Rose has so many good things come into her life!!

Mary and I met about 25 years ago when she was working at The Delaware Gazette, and she came in my office at the courthouse to get the deed transfers from the previous week. At that time, she was still able to walk. But after a period of time, she became confined to a motorized wheelchair and was no longer able to pick up the deed transfers.

A couple of years ago, she and I decided to enter a contest that was mentioned in “Good Housekeeping.” It was to write a 3,000-word essay about our mothers.

Neither of us won, but it kept us adding more and more to our stories in order to hit the 3,000-word mark. Without that inspiration, we may never have written such a long story of the lives of our mothers. Now, each day, we are finding some good things that happened the day before and writing about each of them.

Maybe you could find a friend who would like to exchange only the good things that have happened to each of them. Most people seem to forget the good things and only remember the bad. Maybe we all need to dig a little deeper to find the good things.

While on my computer recently, I came across a few minutes of an old Paul Harvey radio show. He was telling about a newspaper that was founded on writing only positive stories. (Sounded good to me.) However, the newspaper lasted only 14 weeks.

Some of you may remember Paul Harvey. He had a one-man mostly positive news show and was on various times for 5 or 15 minutes, he and always ended his programs with a long pause and then the words: “Good day!”

This past Christmas I received a very nice glass jar with a lid on it. Inside was a printed note that said: “When something good happens to you, big or small, write it down and place it in this jar. If you’re not having a good day, take some papers out of the jar and read about the things you are grateful for.”

There was also a quote that had been added: “The secret to having it all, is knowing you already do.”

Maybe you know someone who may benefit from having such a jar for their own. If so, get a glass jar, copy the above note, and give it to them.

It is such a wonderful feeling to know that Mary Rose had 31 good thing happen to her already this past month. And with adding in the ones for February so far, she has had 50 good things that she has experienced. Thank you, Mary Rose. Everyone should be so lucky as to be in touch with a positive person like you!

I will sign off with my thought for today: “Be the person who makes something good in someone else’s life, so they, too, will have something to remember that was good in their yesterdays.”