1. Morning walks. We are having some really nice spring weather, nowhere close to as much rain as we need but everything that blooms this time of year is lasting so long (we’ve still got lilacs!), and Eric finally saw some baby geese last week. Someone posted a video on Nextdoor of a bobcat hunting at Kestrel Fields where we regularly walk and where Ringo is always extra interested in all the smells. Eric saw a coyote there once so now I’m adding bobcats to the list.

2. Mom is settled in, and seems to be doing okay with the move. She’s got The Hallmark Channel and a big window looking out into the backyard.

3. Our new futon mattress. Now that we’ve had it for a bit, I know that it’s not just better than our old mattress but it’s just really good, just what we were looking for, and I’m going to miss it when we are in Oregon at the house at the coast because if they have the same beds as last time, they aren’t so great.

4. Being married for a long time (30+ years). It’s nice to have someone who remembers the things you do, has been with you for more than half your life. This week, I was thinking about the first apartment we lived in, the basement of a house here in Fort Collins, and about how if we’d known then that things were going to work out for us, I might have relaxed and enjoyed it more — that was the thing about me in my 20s, I just wanted to know what was going to happen, how it was going to turn out, and the not being sure drove me crazy. I told Eric it would be fun to go back knowing what we know now and spend a week in that other earlier life. He suggested we pretend that we are 80 year old versions of ourself who came back in time to visit this moment. I started jogging in place and doing squats, miming an 80 year old me happy to be back in my younger body, “look at this, look at what I can do, look at my teeth!” and Eric said, “awww, hi Ringo, we remember you.”

5. My tiny family, small house, little life. Eric being on summer break and our trip to Oregon are coming up fast. In the meantime, I’m continuing to organize and clean up, putting up new dressers and shelves, incorporating things from Mom and Dad’s while also getting rid of stuff we don’t need anymore, and weeding the garden — we got so little moisture this winter and spring that we aren’t planting anything new, considering this a fallow maintenance year. As much as I’m looking forward to getting away with Ringo and Eric, I’m also looking forward to coming back and being home again — because I love it here with them.

Bonus joy: I don’t have to fix it, finally seeing Carrie (we had tea together at her house so I could also see Tony the Tiger, and both of us had gone to Mary’s Mountain Cookies to get snacks, so there were a lot of cookies), texting with Chloe’, yoga at Red Sage (Ringo came early to get a shockwave treatment before practice and got to stay, and did SO good, so much better than I expected), writing with my Friday morning sangha, sitting in the backyard with Eric and Ringo, naps, oatmeal chocolate chip, new garden tools, Insight Meditation app classes, down pillows and blankets, clean sheets, getting in the pool and sauna, seeing my gym dad Frank, writing in my notebook every morning, honeybees, ladybugs, zebra jumping spiders, peppermint tea, a big salad, disabling YouTube on my phone (short reels had replaced my social media scroll), rain, naps, reading in bed at night while Ringo and Eric sleep.