Best of Beth Ashley: A full life in one word — grateful

Frankie Frost/IJ archive

Beth Ashley

Editor’s note: The IJ is reprinting some of the late Beth Ashley’s columns. This is from 2015.

I had dinner with four friends the other night. For fun, I asked each of them to come up with an adjective that would best describe their current state of mind.

“Happy,” declared one woman, and I wasn’t surprised: She’s happily married, great to look at, travels far and wide, and has scads of good friends. What’s not to be happy about?

Another woman called herself happy...