1. Morning walks. I only got to do one this week, but it was gorgeous.

2. Science and medicine. Y’all, this winter has been a rough one for me. First Ringo was at the emergency vet overnight and sick for a good two weeks, then I was in the hospital, and now, after a few days of symptoms, I finally tested positive for COVID. Eric is feeling better already after testing positive on Wednesday but still lighting up his test — his result line was deep pink three minutes in to the recommend 20 minute wait, darker than the control. Mine was faint after the full 20 minutes but certainly there.

Both of us had symptoms for 3-4 days before testing positive which makes me 97% certain the “not COVID” we had last winter actually was, we just assumed after testing negative the first 2-3 symptomatic days that it wasn’t. We are still masking up when in the same space, sleeping in separate rooms, even though at this point it probably doesn’t matter.

Thank goodness for vaccines, at home tests, masks, health insurance (even though it could be so much better), grocery and pet supplies and pharmacy delivery and no contact pickup, email access to doctors who don’t mind answering a bunch of questions and giving advice, lots of comfortable places to sleep in our house, Eric being well enough to walk the dog, a dog who is content to just hang out as long as he gets walked and fed, me cooking up a bunch of food the last day I felt up to it, friends checking in and offering help, knowing this won’t kill me, and Dr. Google (even though they can make things very confusing).

3. The internet and smartphones and streaming content. I don’t have the energy for much right now, so am just lounging around a lot. A lot of the time, I’m not really sleeping but I also am not up for watching TV or reading or anything I have to pay close attention to, so being able to listen to a podcast or a comedy, or scroll social media with a soft gaze, or text with people who love me, or Google remedies for a sore throat is so welcome. It also means that Eric can do all his meetings and work from home.

4. Baby Ringo Blue. January 16th nine years ago was his first day home with us. And here he is now, still. I’ll probably never get another dog exactly like him — born on purpose even if not specifically for or because of us, 127% Blue Heeler, so tenacious and independent (exactly what you want in a cattle dog but not the best fit for my temperament and skill)  — but I’m so grateful to have had him, to have given him a good life, to have loved him with all my heart just like the three before him. He was the right dog at the right time and I’m glad he’s still here with us still driving me crazy and making me laugh and letting me sneak in a cuddle very once in awhile.

5. My tiny family, tiny home, tiny life. All of it, exactly like this.

1. Morning walks. It was so nice being back on our regular schedule again. One morning was this glorious sunrise and the moon, and another there was thick fog, which is super unusual here. I was happy that even though I’d been doing so much less for the past month, I was mostly back at all of it this week without too much trouble, although I did sleep in yesterday and let Eric walk with Ringo instead of me. I’m so glad that Ringo is doing so much better with his arthritis and whatever overuse or injury he was working with last year. This morning, he and Eric ran 5.7 miles!

2. Training with Shelby and the gang. Again, I was so happy that after so much rest I still seemed to have retained most of the strength I’d gained. It was good to see everyone again, to sweat and laugh with them. 

3. Clean sheets. I was thinking this morning as I did laundry and put fresh sheets on the bed how essential it is to do so regularly, considering how much time I spend in bed and how critical bedding is for me — clean sheets, down pillows and blankets. It does a lot more for my mental health (and thus my physical health) than one might think.

4. Practicing in community. Laurie, our Wild Writing teacher, is on a sabbatical from teaching this session so the small group I write with on Friday mornings decided to run our own sessions, take turns bringing poems and leading. We met for the first time this week and it was so nice to write together, to see and share with each other. I also had a Zoom art date with Janice and finished something I started last week while making art with Mikalina. I’m also really enjoying practicing yoga with some of my favorite teachers again and meditating with Joel and his community from @asoulcalledjoel during his 30 Day Meditation Challenge.

5. My tiny family, tiny home, tiny life. Eric is back at work but has a three day weekend before he has to go back in earnest. I like having him home, even when we are in different parts of the house doing our own thing, which reminds me how lucky I feel to have married an introvert like me.

Bonus joy: oatmeal with apple compote, reading in the morning, writing in front of my HappyLight with a hot cup of tea, appliances and electricity/gas to run them, spiders, birds in the feeder, the call of owls in the dark of early morning, other people’s dogs (especially when our neighbor walks his four dogs down the block to the big field at the end of our street early in the morning, and in particular when the oldest, a cattle dog, goes with them), lemonade, oranges, maple syrup, a warm shower, a big glass of cold water, the hydromassage chair, the pool, the sauna, that even though the trails are muddy when we walk in the morning it’s cold enough that it’s frozen so not so messy or unwalkable, my dear friend finally testing negative for COVID (and that her husband and baby never got it), dark chocolate covered almonds, watching Antiques Roadshow and Tiny House Hunters with Eric, making each other laugh, hugs, indoor plumbing, the internet, being able to take care of so many tasks through email or using an app, grocery stores and pharmacies, vaccines and masks, snow plows, prescription glasses, twinkle lights, my moon lamp, my weighted blanket, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.