1. Morning walks. Still getting a mix of dark and light. Because we got snow this week, the sky was extra special. We met an eight month old Malamute/Husky mix on one of our walks. She had so much energy and was so soft. We didn’t see many animals, except the ducks and geese and a heron flying overhead, but apparently there’s a flock of wild turkeys roaming the park.

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2. Winter. The energy is a good match for this particular moment in time, for me — the pull to hunker down, get comfortable, stay home, hibernate, eat good food, cuddle, sleep, read.

3. Practice. Steady, stable, constant, routine, comforting.

4. Warmth. In particular the heat generated by the oven and dryer, a warm shower, a hot cup of coffee, down blankets, infrared heating pad, saunas, how warm my doctor’s hands were (so warm, I asked if her stethoscope was heated), cuddling with Ringo, hugging Eric, “I love you.”

5. My tiny family. When a doctor friend said we might have to stay careful as we have until March, which would mean a full year of living like this, I wasn’t completely disappointed because it means getting even more time where it’s just the three of us, and that just so happens to be my favorite thing.

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Bonus joy: good TV (The Queen’s Gambit streaming on Netflix and the last two episodes with America Ferrera on Superstore), good podcasts (in particular Do You Need a Ride, My Favorite Murder, and Working it Out), good books (I love Chuck Wendig’s writing on his blog, Terrible Minds, but I’ve never read any of his books, I’m reading his Wanderers because all I’m reading right now is dystopian fiction, and it’s really good, and Ocean Vaughn’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous was beautiful and heartbreaking), broccoli slaw, texting with people I love, Zoom so I can see their faces, an email from one of my yoga students telling me the reasons why practice with other teachers just isn’t the same, my primary care physician who is caring and funny and smart, the people at the lab who stayed patient even though people were being jerks, roasted vegetables, grilled cheese sandwiches, gummy vitamins, vaccines, all the people making an effort to make things better even when it puts them at risk.