1. Morning walks. Even though we’ve got more heat ahead, there’s a subtle shift you can feel when we start to move towards fall — my favorite season in Colorado. 

2. Healthcare. I had to go to urgent care this week for a dumb uti, and even though that sounds like complaining and I had to cancel my yoga class because it left me feeling yucky and grumpy and that’s not a good place to teach from, I feel so lucky that I have access, can go to a location close by without much of a wait (because you can get online and make an appointment) and get a test whose results come back right away and I get the medicine I need and everyone is very helpful from the front desk person to the pharmacist and I’m back home and feeling better in no time at all. It’s kind of a miracle. I’m also grateful for the care my mom is getting and in particular the care my cousin, who is in the hospital with a broken stressed out heart, is getting. I wish that every person who needed it could get it, that they could get in where they need to and be seen by who can help and never had to chose to not go because of the cost or time off work or the fact that a system is overwhelmed by the need and unable to meet it. I wish that those who have the most power over the financing and access were devoted to caring for ALL the people, regardless of their circumstances or need.

3. Hummingbirds. We have a much bigger population this summer. Typically they congregate about half a mile from here, but we’ve been hearing and seeing a bunch in our backyard this summer, in the morning and the evening mostly, and we aren’t even feeding them, unless there are some flowers in front they like. Hummingbirds always make me think of this essay by Brian Doyle, Joyas Voladoras. I’m currently finishing a collection of essays he knew was being put together but didn’t live to see published, One Long River of Song: Notes on Wonder. It’s SO good.

4. Peach and corn season. Yum. Eric made me a peach tart. I think it’s my favorite of all the pie he makes, although his apple and strawberry cream are delicious too.

5. My tiny family, small house, little life. I’ve run out of new ways to say it and I know it might be boring or even irritating to hear it week after week, but I love it here, with them. I have made a lot of mistakes in my life and experienced a lot of really hard things, but this…this I got right.

Bonus joy: my Friday morning writing sangha, bird feeders, afternoon storms, streaming on demand content, watching good TV, listening to podcasts, finding new music, making myself mix tapes, listening to my favorite songs on repeat, a plain cheese pizza, family group texts, therapy, acupuncture, massage, down blankets and pillows, being able to check out books from the library for my Kindle without ever leaving the house, being able to keep those books past their due date without keeping them from other borrowers by changing my Kindle to airplane mode (best life hack ever), libraries and librarians, poets and poetry, comedy and comedians, music and musicians, cheese, the way when you cut up a peach or peel an orange that smell stays on your hands even sometimes after you wash them, a warm shower, clean laundry, clean sheets, being able to see the sun come up, other people’s dogs and kids and gardens, the smell and warm breath of horses, the way cats purr and make biscuits, the way a dog will circle around before resting and as soon as they land they sigh, the river, the sound of the ocean, texting with Chris and Chloe’, sharing reels with Carrie and Shellie and Kari, reading Julie’s poems, naps, reading on my Kindle in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.