Last week, I went down to Washington, D.C., for a panel about happiness and to attend memorial observances for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Both events were A) on the same day, B) timed so that I could attend both, and C) involved a train trip not a flight, so I didn’t have to worry about traveling through an airport. To me, this convergence counts as a modern-day miracle. I remind myself of my own Secret of Adulthood: Scheduling is life!

Onward,

5 Things Making Me Happy

 1 

I hadn’t known about this tradition, but after a Supreme Court Justice dies, the Court holds memorial observances, which I attended. A few clerks gave their moving and also hilarious reminiscences of working in Justice O’Connor’s chambers; the Solicitor General and the Attorney General provided tributes; the Chief Justice gave his own response. I so appreciated hearing these remarks honoring the Justice, but the afternoon was made particularly poignant for me when I realized that I may never have a reason to visit the Supreme Court again. Though I haven’t been a practicing lawyer for a long time, my ties to SOC kept me returning to this transformative place in my life. It’s hard to think, “Maybe this is the last time.”

 2 

In D.C., I also participated in a panel for the Semafor event, “The State of Happiness in 2026: Wellbeing in the Digital Age.” I love any opportunity to learn more about the state of happiness in the world—although admittedly this often means focusing on why people are feeling unhappy. Bonus: I got to goof around and eat snacks with my brilliant friends and co-panelists, Manoush Zomorodi and Jennifer Wallace. We talked shop about happiness and also about book-writing—check out their new books, Body Electric: The Hidden Health Costs of the Digital Age and New Science to Reclaim Your Well-Being and Mattering: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose.

 3 

One benefit of visiting Washington, D.C., is that its many Smithsonian museums are free. I had some time, so I ducked into the Smithsonian American Art Museum and stumbled across a terrific exhibit of the artwork of Anna Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses. She began painting seriously when she was 78 years old—something to keep in mind if you’re starting something new in adulthood.

 4 

It has been so fun to share My Color Pilgrimage with the world. I’ve worked on this hooky project for so long. How I love color! The first four parts of the series are out now, and the last part is coming out soon. If you also love color, and want to learn more about its powers and mysteries—and some astounding facts— become a paid subscriber of my Secrets of Adulthood newsletter on Substack.

 5 

Writing Life in Five Senses, and my love of the sense of smell, has made me wonder: Why don’t we do more to use technological enhancements to our sense of smell? Dogs can sniff out bombs, drugs, cancer, and dangerously low blood sugar—surely there’s even more that could be done. So I was intrigued to read the Wall Street Journal article “The E-Nose Knows: AI Learns to Smell.”​​

INTERVIEW

Kiran Millwood Hargrave