1. Where we live. There are lots of things to complain about or critique here, but the river and the sky and the trails and the snow and the foxes and how close they all are to where we sleep are not on that list.
2. Practice. Wild writing, meditation, yoga, being in relationship with other humans, letting go.
3. Flowers in the bathroom. A few weeks back, I got a bundle of these. The sign bragged that they would last for three weeks. It turns out to be true, and the more they open the more they remind me of sweet peas, which reminds me of summer in Oregon.
4. My tiny family. The way Eric and I check in with each other during the day by sending a selfie of where we are and what we are doing. The comfort of coming home after a long day. The hope that Sam’s tiny limp will right itself and he won’t get older too quickly. How good Ringo did in our Parkour class last week even though we’d missed the week before and hadn’t practiced at all. There are always more pictures of Ringo because he’s so photogenic, but Sam is still sweeter.
5. Snow. And snow tires, and snow shovels, and ice scrapers, and my icebug shoes with the spikes, and wool hats and shirts and socks, down coats and pillows and blankets, and a headlamp.
Bonus joy: getting stronger in all kinds of ways, chocolate, roasted sweet potatoes, clean sheets, a good thermal shirt that’s soft and warm, good friends, the promise of more space, breakfast burritos, an empty parking spot, Pilates, aqua aerobics, the sauna, good books, a new episode of Catfish, flocks of tiny birds, computer glasses, people who shovel their sidewalks, our furnace.
