Image by Eric

1. The Colorado sky. I love it so much because it’s blue so much of the time, but in the winter it is especially magical.

2. I’m still here. For real, this week was HARD. A dear friend got awful news, Sam hurt his back worse than we thought, Eric’s mom ended up in the hospital, and we dealt with a few other things I won’t talk about here, (don’t worry, Mom, I’ll email you all about it later today). Thank goodness for my tiny family, my friends, joyful movement, good books, good food, sleep, practice, and therapy. Also, clean water and biscuits & jam.

3. I finally finished my Curvy Yoga teacher certification. I got sidetracked finishing my 500 hour certification, quitting my job of 19 years, and coping with burnout, but I finished. Now I’ve moved on to getting some of the foundations for my new “business” set up, (I don’t know why, but to say I have a “business” sounds too weird, so I have to put it in quotes).

4. We got new furniture! You might not understand what a big deal this is. We’ve never had furniture that was new and matched or was any kind of intentional design. We still live like we are college roommates renting an apartment rather than a 26 year married pair of 52 year old home owners. We bought new rugs (so Sam won’t slip on the hardwoods and if he lies on the floor, he’ll be on something softer), a mini sectional, and new bookshelves this week. We are also going to get a console table to put our TV on. I hadn’t realized until we got it all set up how much I needed a fresh start, how much I’d appreciate the comfort and beauty. Of course, we ultimately ended up keeping one of our old sofas and a “vintage” mustard yellow velour recliner we inherited from Eric’s parents (they bought it new probably over 50 years ago) that Ringo loves, but it all works in the way we need it to work. Now if we can just keep Ringo from doing too much Parkour on and off the new couch. And also, WHY so MANY pillows?! Who uses all those?

5. My tiny family. The keep me sane and safe, and they make me laugh.

Seriously though: why must he insist on trying so hard to wreck himself?

He likes coffee

“Helping” me make biscuits, or rather waiting for me to drop some butter

Bonus joy: a warm shower, clean pjs, pjs that are decent enough I can wear them out of the house as pants, tea with Chloe’, hanging out with Mikalina, writing in the morning with a hot cup of cocoa coffee (half cocoa with marshmallows, half coffee), sitting in the sauna with Eric, clean sheets, a book so good you try really hard to stay awake so you can keep reading, good TV, clementines, going to the movies and getting popcorn, clarity about what I need, being able to afford new furniture, our “old” furniture becoming someone else’s “new” furniture, other people’s dogs, yoga taught by good teachers using props and good cuing, new to me music, good podcasts, baking, getting all the laundry done and put away, my new pen, being retired.

1. Happy New Year! All our Christmas presents got put away or put to use, and our tree came down and got recycled yesterday. I miss the lights, but the herons will stay inside in the corner by the front window at least until the snow melts.

2. Morning walks. I missed all of them this week. I was subbing some yoga classes and the first part of the week was super cold and Sam’s restricted to just short walks again as he tweaked his back on the ice, but Eric takes lovely pictures so I feel like I was there.

3. Expecting bad news but it turning out okay. It puts everything into perspective when you are expecting the worst and that doesn’t happen. It makes all the other stuff you were worried about before seem like not such a big deal. Also, therapy helps.

4. Practice. Yoga, writing, meditation, and dog. These all help too, (see #3).

5. My tiny family. Sam tweaked his back again on the ice, so he’s been getting lots of special attention, (the above picture is Eric using the cold laser on him). It’s trash day today because of the holiday, and both boys are at the window telling off the trash collectors right now. It’s super cute because sometimes they start off barking and then switch to singing and howling, which Sam isn’t very good at but that makes it even cuter. I’m happy to have another week to spend with Eric before he goes back to work.

Bonus joy: our new ice cream maker from Eric’s mom and dad, hanging out with Mikalina, going to lunch and a movie with Chelsey and Jon (and the movie being good), good TV, good movies, good books (lots of new ones as Christmas gifts I can’t wait to read), making a full page “2020 vision” to-do list and crossing off four things the very first day, updating my resume and realizing I have been working hard and accomplishing a lot, long naps, reading in bed at night while Eric and the dogs sleep, subbing a yoga class and seeing students I haven’t seen in awhile, Sarah’s New Year’s Day yoga mandala class on a day when I really really really needed it, realizing my car will be paid off in another year, the new rugs we ordered (we finally have a dog old enough that we can legitimately worry about him slipping and falling), getting in the pool and sauna at the gym, sunshine, leftover sweet potato and black bean quesadillas, clementines.