1. Morning walks. I’m loving getting to leave earlier, still see the sunrise, walk a bit further, and make it home in time to do all the other morning things. This week was the last one of golden leaves on the trees, so of course now the sky is showing off.
2. Practice. Soothing, supportive, stabilizing, sustainable.
3. Cooking. Not gonna lie, sometimes when I want something in particular, I really want someone else to do the work — getting the ingredients, making the effort to measure and mix, then the actual cooking, cleaning up after — and I could just do the eating part. Today, however, I made myself broccoli parmesan fritters for lunch, did all the work myself, and I was very happy with the eating part of the deal. Besides teaching me to read, cooking is one of the best skills my parents (Mom in particular) taught me.
4. Joyful movement. Walking with Ringo, aqua aerobics or swimming, training with Shelby, and yoga.
5. My tiny family, my tiny home, my tiny life. I’m so grateful that Eric is so good at doing all the maintenance care for Ringo: nail trims, ear cleaning, allergy shots, and baths. With Eric at work so much this semester, Ringo is more my dog and I don’t mind that at all, except for how he keeps stealing my spot on the couch and being so cute doing it that I don’t want to make him move.
Bonus joy: writing with my Friday morning group, training with Eric on Saturday mornings, sitting with him in the sauna, good books, naps, listening to podcasts, good TV, a new therapist (fingers crossed it turns out to be a good fit), down blankets and pillows, clean laundry, clean sheets, the last bit of peach compote I made with this summer’s peaches on my morning oatmeal, pancakes, snow tires (although it hasn’t snowed yet, I’m ready), vaccines, hanging out with Calyx, texting with Chloe’ and Mom and Chris, good neighbors, libraries, the weekend, reading in bed at night while Ringo and Eric sleep.
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 