1. Kitchen counter love notes. Flowers in the bathroom too.

2. Good people, specifically the ones who are good at what they do, are kind and funny and smart, and are doing so much good work to keep me well.

3. Morning walks with the dogs. I’m back to three, five mile morning walks a week, two of them solo with just me and the dogs. It’s a great boon to my mental health as well a marker of my physical wellbeing. When I was looking at pictures this week, I was noticing how there are certain places that are my favorite for stopping to take a picture, how similar but also different they look depending on the light.

4. Ringo and Sam. We really are in a sweet spot with them right now, that wonderful place where no one is a baby and no one is dying, where both are healthy and happy. They still drive me crazy sometimes, but mostly they comfort me and make me laugh and keep me company.

5. Good food. Korean Sweet Potato Falafel Tacos from The Blind Pig, and a big salad with roasted vegetables and miso ginger dressing.

6. Eric. None of the rest would matter without this one.

Bonus joy: clean sheets, my “new” car (I’ve had it for more than a year now, but it still feels new), good meetings at work (even though they mean more work for me), having enough money, good health insurance, clean water, roasted sweet potatoes, a refrigerator and freezer, a washer and dryer, the internet, good TV, good books, feeling like I know what I’m doing and being okay with it when I don’t.

1. Flowers in the bathroom. Extra fancy ones because Eric was going to be gone for a few days.

2. I fell, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. We had freezing rain the other day, which we never get, and it came a day before predicted so caught everyone off guard. I walked out into the parking lot and fell flat on my back. My elbows are both bruised and sore (cause even though they tell you how to fall to avoid getting really hurt, it happens so fast you are all instinct, and apparently I tried to catch myself with my elbows), my hip and my back hurt and I have a baby case of whiplash, but like I said — I know it could have been so much worse and am feeling really lucky it wasn’t. My knee is also getting better, so that’s a bonus.

3. Dr. McDougall’s Organic Instant Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal. I tried to eat the store brand for a bit (cause they only carry this kind at Whole Foods and I can’t ever seem to get out of that store for less than $50 so I try to avoid it), but this is so much better. I mix in 1/4 cup of plain instant oats and it’s perfect.

4. This face. Seriously, sometimes I’m so frustrated with him because he’s doing some thing that’s making me crazy, and then he gives me this look, and I can’t even.

5. Sam, who at seven years old is the perfect mix of sweet and lazy, young and healthy.

Bonus joy: Oranges, clean sheets, getting the laundry done on Friday, Wild Writing, ibuprofen, good TV, my Kindle and the library loaded on there, texting and Voxing with friends, napping with the dogs, working from home, Black History Month.