1. The season of blooms. It has been a cool, rainy spring, and the flowers have loved it. So have the strawberries.

2. Practice. I’m getting more and more clear that I am in recovery from full on burnout (“a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress”), and practice is helping me not spin out about it.

3. Healing, and trusting that I know what to do. Besides my current state of burnout, which requires spending some time every day in a dark quiet spot among other things, I’ve been dealing with the pain of osteoarthritis in my knees (as well as chronic tendinitis and some meniscus tearing) for the past four years, so bad that I take a THC gummy every night just so I can sleep. I’ve tried everything, even started to think I maybe needed surgery in one knee. Then Eric asked me to sign up for a pretty intense small group fitness class at the gym with him. He’s training for a Tough Mudder and I have trouble getting more intense cardio now that I can’t run anymore, even though I’m super active. Starting out, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to do it, thought it would hurt or even wreck my knees. It feels like some kind of miracle, and was certainly something I didn’t know, but this particular intensity and variation of movement makes my knees feel better! Eric found this article that explains the phenomenon: If your knee hurts, keep exercising, says expert.

4. I don’t have a job. Nine years ago, I got out of a horribly toxic work situation and had my first summer off. When I went back to my job in the fall, I expected things to be better. While some things were, (like I no longer had to constantly engage with an abusive narcissist), other hard things stayed the same, (like the unsustainable workload and the stress that caused). I tried for nine years to make it work, but during that time I also put effort towards a backup plan, giving myself other options. When it became clear that not only was I not having any fun anymore but the work was impacting my health and wellbeing in a negative way, I knew I needed to shift. I’m still in recovery mode, but it was the absolute right choice. I also know my choice was a direct result of my privilege.

5. My tiny family. I really would rather spend time with them than anyone else.

Bonus joy: Wild Writing with Laurie, hanging out with Mikalina, texting with Chloe’, plans to see Andrea Gibson with Carrie, dinner with Chelsey and Jon, aqua aerobics, Pilates, teaching yoga, how good Sam is doing after injuring his back last year, how much of a kid Ringo can still be at 5.5 years old, good TV (how much HGTV can one human watch?!), a cool rainy day when I didn’t really want to get out of my pjs anyway, bread, strawberries, a cold glass of clean water, a warm shower, forgetting what day it is, taking a long nap.

1. Peony season. Mine are blooming, and there are so many blooms! This year was also a good one for my roses.

2. Strawberry season. In these first weeks of that harvest, we can barely eat them fast enough. So far we’ve also made Strawberries and Cream Biscuits and Strawberry Cream Pie.

3. Morning walks. Ringo cracked one of his pads, so he had to walk for about a week with a sock boot his dad made him — so cute! At Sam’s vet appointment, we found out he’d lost FIVE pounds — when we had to restrict how much he walked because of his back injury, he’d put on a little extra weight, so we cut his food back, but then he also got back to his regular exercise, and now he’s down to his young man fighting weight. He also on the regular weirdly loses 3-4 pounds every summer and then gains it back over the winter.

4. Colorado sky. This was the view from our front porch yesterday morning.

5. My tiny family. It’s been really nice to be with just them, lazy like summer, taking walks and naps and hanging out in the backyard.

Bonus joy: Hanging out and writing with Mikalina, finally making some progress cleaning and decluttering the house, being almost over my cold, watching TV shows about tiny homes with Eric, knowing it’s okay to go slow, teaching yoga, aqua aerobics, sitting with Eric in the sauna, working out really hard and having my knees actually feel better as a result, good TV, knowing that even if I don’t actually sleep I’m allowed to go into a dark and quiet room and just hang out by myself for a bit taking a “nap,” that Ringo is the kind of dog who is fearful but totally compliant at the vet (because a lot of Heelers can be pretty grumpy and mean under those conditions) and how much his vet loves him (she has three Heelers herself), hearing back that his blood work results look “perfect,” clean sheets.