1. Morning walks. Now that Eric’s on summer break, we get to do more family walks in the morning. In another few weeks, we’ll be on the Oregon Coast and get to walk there together. I spent the first 25 years of my life with easy access to the beach and it’s the one thing I don’t have in Colorado, so I visit when I can. When Eric went with us to the cement ponds on Friday morning, it was clear he’s a lucky charm because even though Ringo and I normally only see other dogs, some geese or a few ducks, maybe even a heron; with Eric, we saw a murder of crows chasing a giant owl, a blackbird eating a frog, and an osprey with a fish.

2. Raintree Athletic Club. Right now, it’s really the only place I ever go besides the grocery store or the doctor. There’s just so much good stuff there: a café, Pilates, yoga, small group HIIT training, a swimming pool, sauna, and hydromassage chair, etc., along with lots of good people — one who has a service dog, a gorgeous super mellow chocolate lab named Captain.

3. Wild writing with Laurie. We are on a break for the summer and I’m already missing it so much.

4. Both/And. Our good, good next door neighbors of the past 13 years moved to Ohio (grief), and they left us a bunch of stuff, including a striped spider plant, a fern, a lipstick plant, and a massive rosemary bush, along with a dog bed that Ringo does not understand at all (joy) — Both/And.

5. My tiny family, tiny home, tiny life. Even at the end of the world in the middle of nowhere, I can stay because they are here.

Bonus joy: pay day, our whole house fan and a/c, being able to text and email instead of call, still thinking about the lasagna Eric made last week, crisp juicy gala apples, strawberries, granola, watching true crime with Eric, listening to podcasts, that not only did Barb give us plants but the pots they are in are gorgeous, our remodeled veterinary clinic, stickers, baby geese, the hydromassage chair, THC/CBD salve (the only thing that touches the pain in my hands from arthritis), citrus, patchouli, french toast, naps, blankets, down and wool, honey bees, birds at the feeder, smoothies, good dirt, trees, writing in the morning in front of my HappyLight with a cup of coffee with cocoa and tiny marshmallows, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.