1. I’m still here. Some days are harder than others, but so far I’m holding on.

2. Sweet Sam. I realized the other day how lucky it was that I quit my CSU job when I did, for all kinds of reasons but especially because even though I didn’t know it at the time it was Sam’s last year with us and because I wasn’t working, I got to spend way more time with him.

3. Practice. The predictable routine of it, the comfort, the ability to make space.

4. Our garden. We are getting lots of cucumbers, there are baby watermelons, and based on the number of green tomatoes, I need to start rounding up my soup and salsa recipes. Our birdbath as far as we know is still limited to hydrating yellow jackets but hopefully the birds will find it at some point. Chloe’ and I did a plant swap — I gave her some of my phlox and she gave me some of her feverfew. Then Susan (sweet Kelly’s mom) sent me some seeds from some of the flowers in her North Carolina garden. I love having little bits from the gardens of people I love in my garden.

5. Morning walks. One of them this week was foggy, which is very unusual for Colorado. It felt like we were in Oregon.

6. My tiny family. Eric is going to go back a few days a week to his “real” office to see how that feels. I selfishly like having him home all the time. Ringo is feeling better after a wonky belly and sprained ankle — fingers and paws crossed that sticks. Understandably, my ability to hold space for injury and illness in my dogs is pretty limited right now. I just need everybody to be okay for awhile.

Bonus joy: good TV (Feel Good and Dead to Me on Netflix, also Forensic Files because there’s something about a crime being solved in 20 minutes that’s very satisfying, and Antiques Roadshow which seems so innocent and sweet in light of current events), good books (almost finished with the Broken Earth trilogy, but then got Too Much and Never Enough by Mary Trump and got a little sidetracked — still not sure if it was a good idea to get a book that tells just how awful someone is who I already think is awful…), big salads, naan bread, naps, HIIT workouts with Eric, hanging out with Barb and Chloe’, and then Mikalina and Chloe’, and then Mikalina, texting with my mom and brother, clean sheets, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep, paying off my car (even though it was bittersweet, as that was money we were going to spend on a trip to Oregon this summer).