1. Morning walks. It was so nice being back on our regular schedule again. One morning was this glorious sunrise and the moon, and another there was thick fog, which is super unusual here. I was happy that even though I’d been doing so much less for the past month, I was mostly back at all of it this week without too much trouble, although I did sleep in yesterday and let Eric walk with Ringo instead of me. I’m so glad that Ringo is doing so much better with his arthritis and whatever overuse or injury he was working with last year. This morning, he and Eric ran 5.7 miles!

2. Training with Shelby and the gang. Again, I was so happy that after so much rest I still seemed to have retained most of the strength I’d gained. It was good to see everyone again, to sweat and laugh with them. 

3. Clean sheets. I was thinking this morning as I did laundry and put fresh sheets on the bed how essential it is to do so regularly, considering how much time I spend in bed and how critical bedding is for me — clean sheets, down pillows and blankets. It does a lot more for my mental health (and thus my physical health) than one might think.

4. Practicing in community. Laurie, our Wild Writing teacher, is on a sabbatical from teaching this session so the small group I write with on Friday mornings decided to run our own sessions, take turns bringing poems and leading. We met for the first time this week and it was so nice to write together, to see and share with each other. I also had a Zoom art date with Janice and finished something I started last week while making art with Mikalina. I’m also really enjoying practicing yoga with some of my favorite teachers again and meditating with Joel and his community from @asoulcalledjoel during his 30 Day Meditation Challenge.

5. My tiny family, tiny home, tiny life. Eric is back at work but has a three day weekend before he has to go back in earnest. I like having him home, even when we are in different parts of the house doing our own thing, which reminds me how lucky I feel to have married an introvert like me.

Bonus joy: oatmeal with apple compote, reading in the morning, writing in front of my HappyLight with a hot cup of tea, appliances and electricity/gas to run them, spiders, birds in the feeder, the call of owls in the dark of early morning, other people’s dogs (especially when our neighbor walks his four dogs down the block to the big field at the end of our street early in the morning, and in particular when the oldest, a cattle dog, goes with them), lemonade, oranges, maple syrup, a warm shower, a big glass of cold water, the hydromassage chair, the pool, the sauna, that even though the trails are muddy when we walk in the morning it’s cold enough that it’s frozen so not so messy or unwalkable, my dear friend finally testing negative for COVID (and that her husband and baby never got it), dark chocolate covered almonds, watching Antiques Roadshow and Tiny House Hunters with Eric, making each other laugh, hugs, indoor plumbing, the internet, being able to take care of so many tasks through email or using an app, grocery stores and pharmacies, vaccines and masks, snow plows, prescription glasses, twinkle lights, my moon lamp, my weighted blanket, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.