1. Morning walks. This week the harvest moon was a supermoon. We purposefully left early one morning when it was supposed to be at its peak to try and get some pictures, but it stayed behind the clouds until the very end of our walk. So, we walked in the dark for nothing and I didn’t get many pictures of it and also missed the sunrise that day because we walked so early — and it feels like there is a metaphor for my life in there somewhere, something about timing or trying to catch and hold on to what is unpredictable and impermanent and so beautiful it will break your heart either way. 

2. Practice. I’m so grateful for what it has taught me about sitting with discomfort, about not rushing to try and fix things or freaking out and running away, about being patient with not knowing, about ensuring I can wait until my action comes from a place of wisdom and compassion, about how to hold space for impermanence, about coming home to myself. 

3. Support and help, all the shapes and forms of it, giving it as well as receiving. 

4. Eric’s D&D “habit.” He first played with a group of friends when he was in high school. They’d stay up all night, eating snacks and making each other laugh. He was always in sports, specifically cross country, but he was also a nerd. As often happens with high school friends, people moved and started families and careers and they stopped playing together. Through some sort of magic, when we were settled in our lives here, he was invited to play again with a new group of adult friends, some of whom had played together since they were in high school. He’s been playing with them once a week for close to seven years. Each year, they have a big event where there’s a theme with multiple smaller campaigns and “dungeon masters” with a much larger crowd all in costume where they play all day. I told Eric the other day, he needs to put in his will that his collection be donated to a high school theater department because he takes it very serious and has some pretty cool costumes. An introvert like me, I’m SO glad that he’s got this group of friends, that his hobby is a nerdy one and not something like drinking or watching sports.

5. My tiny family, small house, little life. I am so lucky to have a place where I can be comfortable and safe and so loved.

Bonus joy: writing with Wendy and Cynthia, golden leaves — both on the trees and the ground, gummies, cancelled plans, cooking, grocery shopping, doing laundry, training with Shelby and the gang, the hydromassage chair, a warm shower, clean sheets, my infrared heating pad, down blankets and pillows and coats, wool socks and sweaters, slippers, being able to still laugh and cry, new notebooks, stickers, letting go, practicing yoga at Red Sage (this is the little dude who was there with us last week — watch this short video and be amazed I was able to teach a relatively coherent class with this level of cute in the room!), watching TV, listening to podcasts, four new books from the library, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.