Gratitude Friday

1. Eric. He made me this. On every slip of paper inside he wrote something he loves about me. He’s also been calming me down all week about Ringo’s foot — he was running around the backyard like a wild man and stubbed his toe so hard he cut it. I have so much anxiety about anything that happens to the dogs after losing Obi and Dexter to cancer, the smallest thing seems like an emergency, and Eric does such a good job of keeping me from losing my mind — in this and everything else.

2. Ringo and Sam. I’m so grateful that even though Ringo cut his toe, he can still walk on it and isn’t messing with it and it doesn’t seem to hurt — in fact, he doesn’t act like there’s anything wrong at all, doesn’t understand what the fuss is all about. I’m so grateful that he and Sam play so happily together. I’m so grateful that Sam’s health is good and he’s so sweet.

“Can we haz a treat?”

Ringo fell asleep waiting for Sam to give him a turn with the toy.

3. Feast and the Open Heart Project and the Daily Dharma Gathering, the way that they all work together for me.

4. The Self-Compassion Saturday project, and the ways it keeps on going. Psychology Today posted a link to Barb Markway’s article about it from last year on their Facebook page (which has 5.4 million followers!), so even more people are getting to see it.

5. The Colorado sky, the Poudre River, getting to see the sunrise while I’m out walking the dogs.

Bonus Joy: lunch with friends, reading, having methods to work with my anxiety, laughing with Eric, fun stuff to work on, emails from my mom, pictures of people’s cute dogs and cats and kids on Instagram, the foot of snow that’s on its way here, the promise of rest.

Yup, that’s Neil Gaiman and me.

1. Meeting Neil Gaiman. I stood in line for seven hours and it was totally worth it. He’s one of the kindest humans I’ve ever met, made eye contact and spoke to every person (and the rumor is it was 2000+), and stayed until 3 am signing books until there was no more line. He’s generous and kind and caring, as well as brilliant and funny. I got to tell him that even though I love everything he does, my favorite thing he’s ever written was the blog post he wrote when he lost his dog, The Power of Dog. Cabal (2003-2013). It was six months after Dexter was diagnosed with cancer and a few years after we’d lost Obi, and it was so comforting to have someone so smart so publicly confess to being brokenhearted over a dog.

2. Good friends. Some of them waited in line for Neil Gaiman too, and they made seven hours seem like it wasn’t even really that long.

3. Sam and Ringo. It makes me so happy that they get along so well. I’ve always felt like my dogs should be a pair because there are things about being a dog that I just don’t get, can’t give them. It’s a relief when the pairing works out so well.

4. Daily Dharma Gathering and Feast. The combination of the two is making me feel like I am simultaneously falling to pieces and superpowered — raw and tender and strong.

5. Yoga, both practice and teaching, as well as the opportunity to do more training.

Bonus joy: Watching Friends with Eric and laughing, grapefruit juice, naps, paid sick days, asiago bagels, blue sky, the chance to start over (again and again and again), International House Hunters, understanding how I’m wired and honoring that, watching Ringo and Sam play together, taking a shower, clean sheets, crying, finding another bean from Dexter’s Little D when I was sweeping.