1. Morning walks. Because Sam is on restriction, only going 1.5 miles in the morning, we’ve been walking more around our neighborhood and not so much by the river, so I haven’t been taking many pictures. The one above is of my favorite tree in our neighborhood, at the end of our block just across the road from a large field that is used as an unofficial dog park by the people who live nearby and someday could have an apartment complex built on it. I love the shape of the tree, and how it reaches out over the street. I’m not sure what kind it is, always think to get online and try to find out but then forget by the time we get back home, (okay, I just looked it up and I’m almost positive it’s a Honey Locust).

2. Lincoln Center shows with Eric. We get a package every year of tickets to five different shows. Usually there are at least three we for sure want to see, and then we pick two that are more random. Last week we saw The Choir of Man (it was really good, although I could have done without so much audience interaction) and this weekend we’ll see An American in Paris. Eric always takes a selfie of us with the program to text to our friend Jeff, to prove that we actually sometimes leave the house at night. My favorite thing about the Lincoln Center as a venue is it’s only six minutes from our house, so if the show is over at 9 pm, we are in our car at 9:03 and home by 9:08.

Me, sitting on my new couch under my infrared heating pad and favorite blanket, with a rainbow at my feet

3. Honoring my limits. My habit over the years has been to push myself too hard, go go go until I collapse and have to stop completely and rest until I can get back to it. I’m not good at pacing myself. Before I start teaching a bunch more classes, I’m trying to learn what my limits are and honor my true energetic levels as well as my requirements for rest.

4. Good TV. I am not watching as much as I was when I first stopped working, but I still watch a fair amount. I just finished Frankie and Grace and Sex Education, and I’m trying to finish reading The Ghost Bride because they just released it on Netflix and I noticed today that the first episode of the new season of Shrill is up. All my “regular” shows are back in action too: The Good Place, Superstore, Grey’s Anatomy, Will & Grace, The Conners, Blackish, Grownish. There’s always plenty of International House Hunters and Tiny House Nation too. I also want to watch Troop Zero and the Downton Abbey movie on Amazon when I get some time.

Six years ago, when Ringo Blue was still a baby and Samson still liked to play

5. My tiny family. I’ve started to notice Ringo giving me way more attention and seeking out my attention more than before I was home so much during the day. Sam has always adored me, followed me everywhere, and that hasn’t changed. I think that pets are essential for any introverted hsp, but even more so for one that doesn’t have a “real” job and spends most of their time at home and has anxiety issues, (although sometimes they are the source of anxiety).

Each boy on his own couch

Someone is shedding…

He still prefers this couch even though he’s really too tall for it. His fur was warm from the sun, so I get it.

Me watching a police bust go down in front of our house (a car pulled over that had at least four stolen backpacks inside) while the dogs wait quietly. Some day I’ll repaint those circles of drywall from when we got our house insulated…

Bonus joy: writing with Carrie, hanging out with Mikalina, writing in the morning while I drink my cocoa coffee, sleeping in, taking naps, good books, good podcasts (I had an ocular migraine the other day and couldn’t watch TV or read, so I laid in a dark room and caught up on podcasts), moving my body, a big glass of cold clean water, sunshine, clean pjs, getting all the laundry done, our new rugs for the kitchen and dining room, watching Father Brown with Eric, my infrared heating pad, sitting in the sauna after aqua aerobics.

Image by Eric

1. The Colorado sky. Today, sadly, it’s mostly gray. We are due a big windstorm later in the day, so hopefully that will clear out the crud.

2. Doing fun stuff with people I love. Lunch and a movie with Chelsey and Jon, dinner and a movie with Chloe’ and Claudia, breakfast with Carrie, a yoga class with Abrona, aqua aerobics and a chat with Janice, sitting in the sauna with Eric, watching “Father Brown” with Eric, laughing with Eric, walking and napping with the dogs, yoga with my Red Sage class, a fitness class with Paige and Beth, random texting with my brother.

3. Practice and therapy and moving my body and napping and eating what I want and napping and reading in bed at night while Eric and the dogs sleep. These are some of the things keeping me from giving up this week. I just reread this and realized I said “napping” twice, but since that is pretty accurate, I’m going to leave it like that.

4. Kindness and support from other people, even if we’ve never met IRL. I posted something on Instagram about having an autoimmune disorder and burnout and was immediately offered so much goodness by people, some of them who I’ve never even met in real life. It can sometimes seem like social media and the internet are a container for the worst of humanity, but it also holds the best of what we are.

5. My tiny family. The real reason we got a whole new sectional is so Eric can stretch his legs out all the way when he takes a nap, and he took full advantage of it before he had to go back to work this week. Sam is still doing better after tweaking his back, but we did have to put him back on a small dose of pain meds to give him a bit more time to heal. I’m so grateful for all the support for him we have access to living here in Fort Collins. This week six years ago we brought Ringo the dingo home. He was so cute and tiny and gray, but clearly part wolverine.

Bonus joy: Clementines, good books (I just finished Where the Crawdads Sing and started The Ghost Bride), good TV (a new season of Catfish), good music, good podcasts, getting the laundry done and put away a day early, the few days I had this week without any anxiety, a long nap when you are really tired, toast with marionberry jam, sleeping in, writing in the morning while drinking a cocoa coffee, blue sky, the softest pajamas, laughing with Eric.