April | 2021 | Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray)

1. I’m fully vaccinated! So far, my reaction to the second round is pretty mild, a headache with short boughts of dizziness and nausea, totally manageable and absolutely worth it. I am so grateful to have made my goal: to not get COVID-19 before I had the vaccine or it was no longer a threat. This was my goal way back when this all started, before they knew when or if there would be a vaccine. I know this isn’t a guarantee of anything, but my hope is that it means if I do get sick, I won’t end up in the hospital or die from it, that I’m less likely to infect someone else, and that it’s as safe as it’s ever going to be to visit my family, who I haven’t seen in two years now.

2. Signs of spring. Foxes (Eric finally saw one of the babies this morning), more bird song in the mornings, lingering light at night, osprey out hunting along the river, things turning green, budding and blooming, the port-o-potties gone from the park, and another round of snow.

3. Comfort. Being retired so that my schedule is my own and I can do what I want, what I need for myself; sitting in the infrared sauna with Eric; getting in the pool; a massage; hot coffee with cocoa and tiny marshmallows; seeing a friend volunteering at the immunization center; the kindness and good humor of the other people working there; having Eric with me this time around; my super soft purple hoodie; wool socks; down blankets and pillows; a warm shower.

4. Morning walks. With the two storms we had come through, they were pretty gloomy this week, and it was muddy some of the time so we couldn’t get close to the river for too long. We saw lots of deer and foxes and heron.

5. My tiny family, tiny house, tiny life. My favorites.

Bonus joy: Janice coming back to the pool, hanging out and writing with Calyx, texting with Chelsey and Chloe’, texting with my mom and brother, cooking (thanks for teaching me the basics, Mom), reading (thanks to both my parents for giving me this), listening to podcasts, watching old episodes of 20/20, naan, sunshine, birds at the feeder, my daffodils about to bloom, acetaminophen, warm water, a big glass of cold clean water, my sense of smell and taste, how soft Ringo’s coat made of stars is, other people’s dogs, babies, all the people working so hard to keep us safe, practice.

1. ‘Comfort Decorating’ Is All About Making Your Home A Sanctuary. “It’s called ‘comfort decorating,’ and it can provide a sense of normalcy even when everything around us feels, well, not very normal.”

2. How Sara Gruen Lost Her Life. “The Water for Elephants author’s six-year fight to free an incarcerated man left her absolutely broke and critically ill.”

3. You Can Now Download a Collection of Ancient Japanese Wave Illustrations for Free.

4. The Grief Crisis Is Coming on The New York Times. For each person who dies of Covid-19, experts say there are at least nine newly bereaved. We must begin to address the toll.”

5. Fear Of Flying | Stop Motion Animated Short Film. “It’s time to migrate south, but Dougal is afraid of flying. The tragicomic adventure of a bird and its phobias.”

6. The 31 Finalists Of 2021 Bird Photographer Of The Year Awards.

7. The first photo I ever took of my daughter, and the last.

8. Detox Your Mind: 5 Practices to Purify the 3 Poisons on Lion’s Roar. “Five Buddhist teachers share practices to clear away the poisons that cause suffering and obscure your natural enlightenment.”

9. Wisdom from Pema Chödrön:

There’s a common misunderstanding among all the human beings who have ever been born on the earth that the best way to live is to try to avoid pain and just try to get comfortable. You can see this even in insects and animals and birds. All of us are the same.

A much more interesting, kind, adventurous, and joyful approach to life is to begin to develop our curiosity, not caring whether the object of our inquisitiveness is bitter or sweet. To lead a life that goes beyond pettiness and prejudice and always wanting to make sure that everything turns out on our own terms, to lead a more passionate, full, and delightful life than that, we must realize that we can endure a lot of pain and pleasure for the sake of finding out who we are and what this world is, how we tick and how our world ticks, how the whole thing just is.

10. Black Collagists on Instagram, “A digital archive and arts incubator highlighting the work of Black collage artists globally.”

11. For the introverts: Dreading Going Back to ‘Normal’? Reentry Fear Is Real and Why a Clutter-Free Environment Is Important for Introverts.

12. Return the National Parks to the Tribes from The Atlantic. “The jewels of America’s landscape should belong to America’s original peoples.”

13. I’ve had the same supper for 10 years. “I have lived in the Teifi valley, in west Wales, all my life: 72 years. I’m a farmer and look after 71 sheep. My boyhood was spent helping my family on the farm. I have never wanted to run away from it, even as a young lad. This valley is cut in the shape of my heart.” His is such a sweet, inspiring story, to live your life exactly as you want it, content with who you are and what you do, even if it might seem strange to everyone else.

14. A Pastor’s Son Becomes a Critic of Religion on TikTok on The New York Times. “John Piper is one of the most influential theologians in America. His son Abraham calls evangelicalism ‘a destructive, narrow-minded worldview.'”

15. The Ms. Q&A With Ani DiFranco: “You Have License To Be All the Aspects of Yourself and To Be Unashamed of Them.”

16. Ada Limón on Preparing the Body for a Reopened World: The Challenges of Emerging from Lockdown.