1. The morning walk. I’m back on a more normal schedule again, doing regular walks in the morning, just me and the dogs and my camera phone. The experience is just as irritating and wonderful as I remembered.

2. Community. I have some really good friends, work with some amazing people, and am connected to a whole web of others that are so supportive, funny, and smart. Lucky, lucky me.

3. Fresh flowers. In the bathroom, on my writing desk. My goal someday is to have enough planted in my garden that I don’t have to buy them anymore.

4. Getting things done, in a way that is healthy and and reasonable and sustainable. This means saying no sometimes, lowering the bar, resting when I need to rest, and allowing myself to want what I want.

5. My tiny family. The way the dogs play like manics in the backyard even though they just got back from a long walk, the way Eric sends me pictures of his new shoes so I can tell him they aren’t weird, the way Ringo loves to be outside but Sam prefers to be inside on the couch, when Eric comes home from work early and takes the dogs hiking, the way Eric can get Ringo to sing (a goofy sweet mix of barking, talking, and howling that I love almost more than anything else), how Sam follows me around the house, how all three of them make me laugh so hard sometimes.

Bonus joy: ice cream sandwiches and how they remind me of summer, root beer which for some reason I’m completely obsessed with right now, deadline extensions, a boss who loves working with me and loves what I do and tells me every time she gets the chance because I know what it’s like to work for someone who does the exact opposite, sleeping in, good tv, my new phone which cost way too much money but really is so nice, being able to get the screen protector on my new phone the first try with no bubbles or trapped dust, people who would rather help than hurt, people who help even though they risk being hurt, making Eric laugh, hearing him laugh even if it wasn’t me who made him, having 20+ years of memories together.