Most of the time, it really is the simple things that make me happy. How is it that I keep forgetting this? Why do I keep pushing, trying so hard, doing so much, instead of being quiet and still, seeing what I already have in abundance?
Happy, well-loved dogs. Long walks under beautiful skies with my three favorite boys.
Farmer’s markets and fresh food. A gorgeous head of lettuce with purple ruffled edges. Strawberries, Marionberry Jam, Rainier and Bing Cherries. One pound of fresh bay shrimp. Magic flea market finds. Yesterday, I saw a link to this, What’s Your Animal Personality Type (based on the Myers-Briggs types), and before I found mine, I thought to myself “well, it’s obvious, I’m a dog,” but it was even better, I’m the wild mother to the dog, a wolf. And then today, shopping at a flea market in Waldport, I found this.
Reading.
Secret messages from the Universe.
And a partner who says things like “there is nothing I’d rather be doing right now,” which makes me feel like this:
What simple things make you happy, kind and gentle reader?
My biggest wish for this summer is that the High Park Fire will be 100% contained, controlled, stopped, extinguished. That the fire fighters will stay safe, that no more homes will burn, no more harm will be done, and no more fires will start this summer.
That Eric and I and our two boys have a safe trip to Oregon, and then back to Colorado. That our drive is smooth, easy, and without issue or complication, that the dogs stay cool and comfortable, and we arrive in Oregon (and then Colorado) with little effort or suffering. And that our Big Rig functions as a vehicle of love and light that protects everyone we pass or follow or meet along the way. That anyone else traveling in this same time frame is also safe.
driftwood beach, where we’ll be walking in just a few days
That I practice mindfulness and gratitude, experience rest and play and joy while we are in Oregon.I need the rest, and I want to connect wholeheartedly to the joy of the present moment and sink into it fully.
hiking two years ago at cape perpetua, on the oregon coast
That I have a good experience at the World Domination Summit. That I don’t freak out, I don’t push or bully myself to do too much, I don’t try too hard, don’t sink into feeling unworthy or afraid that I’m missing something, that I remain safe and well, and that I get to, in a kind and gentle way, meet the people on the list I carry in my heart and tell them to their faces “thank you and I adore you.” That I can have confidence, “the willingness to be as ridiculous, luminous, intelligent, and kind as you really are, without embarrassment” (Susan Piver).
Happy, comfortable, safe beach dogs.
Naps, eating seafood, reading, writing, yoga, meditation, walks on the beach, hiking, meeting new friends, long conversations about nothing and everything, laughter, love, love, love.
where the forest meets the sea
And this, from Mary Oliver (shared here this morning), this is what I wish, not just for summer, but for my life. And for you as well, kind and gentle reader. Happy first day of summer and much love to you. May you have everything you wish for this summer as well.
The Summer Day
by Mary Oliver
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
Long walks under beautiful skies with my three favorite boys. 
Magic flea market finds. Yesterday, I saw a link to this, What’s Your Animal Personality Type (based on the Myers-Briggs types), and before I found mine, I thought to myself “well, it’s obvious, I’m a dog,” but it was even better, I’m the wild mother to the dog, a wolf. And then today, shopping at a flea market in Waldport, I found this.
Reading.
And a partner who says things like “there is nothing I’d rather be doing right now,” which makes me feel like this:
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 