1. Morning walks. The gold is starting to fall to the ground and there’s snow in the forecast. I told Eric last night that as much as I love walking with Ringo, there’s also a particular joy going to bed on a Friday night knowing I don’t have to get up early, can sleep as late as I want.

2. Practice. We’ve started to add some half hour lunch break yoga sessions to our schedule at Red Sage and even though it is shocking how quickly a half hour goes by, there’s also a particularly joyful energy to it. I’m feeling extra grateful for my Friday morning writing sangha and our wild-ish writing practice. With the election coming, it felt especially supportive this week.

3. There’s no need to rush. It’s hard when something you want takes a lot of time and effort rather than just manifesting fully formed. And with things that take time, there are also going to be moments when you get frustrated, can’t see the progress you’ve made, and maybe even want to give up. And it can feel like time is rushing by so fast, that it’s running out, and it’s hard not to push yourself. I keep reminding myself that it’s okay to pace myself, that there is plenty of time — even if there isn’t. Especially this time of year when nature is winding down and preparing for a “big sleep” until spring, I’m reminded that it’s not only okay to slow down, to rest, but it’s necessary.

4. Ringo curled up under my writing desk again. It was while we were writing on Friday morning. He’s always close by, but curling up at my feet is something he never really wanted to do, even though I invited him, always kept a dog bed there just in case. He only stayed for 5 or 10 minutes, but I’ll take it.

5. My tiny family, small house, little life. Everything I want or need is right here.

Bonus joy: watching TV, good books, listening to music and podcasts, getting in the pool, the hydromassage chair, sitting in the sauna with Eric, clean sheets, payday, a warm shower, my bed, down pillows and blankets, head lamps, other people’s dogs and kids, pictures of my favorite kids in their Halloween costumes, making and eating good food, hugs, making each other laugh, texting with Chris and “the girls,” texting with Chloe’, sharing reels and memes with Shellie and Kari and Carrie, the miles and miles of trails we have access to, good neighbors, naps, libraries and librarians, poetry and poets, comedy, true crime, glasses, paint, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.

1. Morning walks. Fall in Colorado is my favorite. It’s just so gorgeous.

2. Practice. I’m loving being back practicing yoga with Red Sage and writing with my Friday morning sangha. Yesterday when we were writing, Ringo got on the bed under my writing desk WHILE I was sitting at it, which he NEVER does but I leave the bed there hoping that some day that will be his regular spot while I’m working, as it was with all my other dogs. 

In related news, here’s something I wrote yesterday in my wild writing group in response to Joy Harjo’s poem “My House is the Red Earth“:

The center of the world is a place I have no interest in going, to visit or to live. There are already too many people gathered there. Give me the edge of the world, the place that is quiet and wild and some would even say lonely, but that’s where my friends are — the trees, the river, the deer and foxes and owls and blue herons. The wildflowers and rocks. I’m okay there’s a trail worn by other feet, I just don’t need to walk with them. I have my dog and that’s enough company. This morning, we stopped by that same tree at the edge of Lincoln, the one where I saw something last time, a pair of eyes in the dark and the sound of claws climbing bark. This morning, Ringo had stopped to chew on a stick and I sneezed, startling something in the same tree, and I tried to guess what it was by the noise it made getting from the tree back to the ground. It’s the season to spot bears and mountain lions or bobcats in this area. Part of me hopes to see one, the other part doesn’t need confirmation or a confrontation. I was reminded as I looked at the deep gold of the cottonwood trees there that the fall color we see isn’t a new thing that arises but rather a revelation of what was always there, we just couldn’t see it because we were blinded by the green. It’s only when it’s too cold and dark for the trees to keep making green that the other colors reveal themselves — the orange, red, gold, and even purple that were always there in the shadow of the green. I brought it up in our yoga class yesterday. We were doing tree pose and I was reminded of the botanical facts resulting in the “change” of color in the fall. Maybe that’s me too? In the fall of my body’s life, as the estrogen and such fade, I become suddenly golden for a moment before I drop to the ground, return to the earth. I am a surge of something so bright and brilliant, you’ll stop in your tracks to wonder at me, all the more beautiful because of my impermanence.

3. Ringo. He’s going to be 11 years old in a few weeks, the day after I turn 57. He’ll officially be our oldest dog, but he doesn’t seem that old. He reminds me of my other dogs when they were about seven or eight years old. He still acts like a kid half the time, like the other day when he was SO excited to discover a forgotten ball under Sam’s couch, which I rescued for him and he proceeded to destroy in less than five minutes.

4. Being okay even when I’m not okay. This past year (or five, even 10) have been rough, and yet even when I’m at my lowest, my most broken, I know that everything will be okay, even when it isn’t.

5. My tiny family, small house, little life. One of the biggest reasons that even when I’m not okay, I’m actually good.

Bonus joy: seeing a show with Eric, getting the laundry done and put away, breakfast burritos, watching TV, listening to podcasts, clean sheets, having a plan for next weeks dinners and all the supplies and ingredients I’ll need to cook them, good neighbors, other peoples dogs and kids, other people’s Halloween costumes and decorations, plantain chips and dip, sugar (yeah, I said it — wanna fight me?!), bread (yup, I said that too!), the hydromassage chair, working out with Shelby and the gang, lifting heavy things, letting go, keeping the house cool enough to be able to wear winter clothes and sit with a blanket, my weighted blanket, my sound machine, my moon nightlight and sunrise alarm clock, waiting to walk until the sun comes up, Bluey, soup, toast, cheese, rain, walking through golden leaves, things still blooming, hibernation, listening to music, naps, a warm shower, a big glass of cold clean water, hugs, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.