1. Sunrise. Next week Eric will go back to work and we’ll get back on our shared walking schedule so I’ll get to be out taking pictures of our morning walk again and I’m so excited about it, also apologizing to Ringo in advance if it takes a bit for me to get my stamina back after such a long break.

2. Flowers. After a few doctor’s appointments this week, I stopped at Trader Joe’s on my way home. They always have such an interesting variety of flowers. These are Love in the Mist (Nigella Damascena, also apparently sometimes called Devil in the Bush), which even though I bought them separate from the Ranunculus it turns out they are both from the Ranunculaceae family of flowers, cousins.

3. Good news from my doctor and surgeon. The CT scan I got last week showed my abscess has cleared up. Next step is a colonoscopy in four weeks to get a closer look and determine if I need surgery. My primary doctor is being super helpful getting my insurance claim sorted out, as they somehow missed the whole part about the abscess and decided my hospital stay “wasn’t medically necessary.”

4. New pajamas. I love them, they are so nice and comfy, and when Eric saw them, he said, “you look like you’re in prison.” I mean, he’s not wrong… 🙂 My brother said, in response to the text I sent with the picture at 3 pm, “you are still in your pajamas?!” and I had to explain that I live in my pjs, that after I take a shower I put a clean pair on. The older I get, the more I prioritize comfort.

5. My tiny family, tiny home, tiny life. As happy as I’ll be to get back to the morning walk, I’ve love having Eric home more often. Right now, he and Ringo are on the couch napping and it makes me so happy.

Bonus joy: making art with Mikalina, texting with Chloe’, laughing with Eric (for example, we were watching an episode of Antiques Roadshow last night and the appraiser had a uniquely shaped head and haircut so Eric started to do a Frankenstein voice version of the appraisal that had us both laughing so hard), yoga with Sarada and Abrona and Jamie (especially Sarada’s New Year’s day mandala flow), texting my mom and brother, cleaning up my office a bit, stretching, oranges, oatmeal with apple compote, sweet potatoes, reading in the morning after I write, writing with a cup of hot tea, meditation, the hydromassage chair, the pool, the sauna, clean sheets, all the laundry done and put away, being able to do so many necessary things through email or text or using an app, Insight Timer, Prisma, Instagram, Google and the magic of the internet, watching good TV (and sometimes trash TV), listening to podcasts, a warm shower, breakfast burritos, raspberries, birds in the feeder, other people’s dogs and cats and kids, being able to help, dog rescue and the people who do that good work, naps, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep. 

1. Sunrise. I haven’t been going on morning walks (with Eric on break, they’ve been running in the morning and I’ve been sleeping a bit later), and yet I still get to see the sun rise, which is especially beautiful this time of year.

2. Eating “normal” food. My CT scan results found that my abscess is “resolved” so I can start to eat more fiber again, which means a much more expansive and joyful eating experience. I’ve been eating oatmeal from breakfast the past few days with a modified version of this apple compote recipe. I modify it by using Penzeys pie spice blend instead of all the individual spices the recipe calls for.

3. Christmas. It was also a bit modified this year (especially our dinner menu), but every bit as lovely. With all the travel horror stories, the brutal weather and canceled flights and people getting sick, I was happy to be safe at home with my tiny family.

4. Rest. I’ve been getting so much and it is greatly appreciated.

5. My tiny family, tiny home, tiny life. There’s no where I’d rather be, no one I’d rather be with.

Bonus joy: a whole new year (and yes, I realize time and calendars are “made up”), writing in the morning with a hot cup of tea, my weighted blanket, the lights on our tree, the rosemary bush our old neighbor’s gave us when they moved, texting with Mom and Chris, marionberry jam, down blankets and pillows, clean sheets, naps, snow, good TV (finished It’s a Sin on HBO and started the second season of Sort Of on the same), clean laundry, pay day, watching The Great British Baking Show with Eric, the sweet text he sent me when I was spinning out about my possible upcoming surgery, pictures of Hendrix sledding, Pickle the cat, that our new neighbors had to block the part of the fence we cut out to allow the ash tree on our property line to stay when we put in our new fence because their little dog could sneak through into our yard, that the chicken and rice and veggie teriyaki bowls I like so much are Eric’s favorite too, gingerbread, yoga with Sarada, yoga with Abrona and Jamie too, the hydromassage chair and pool and sauna, how well Ringo has been doing with his arthritis even with all the snow and cold, new calendars, meditating to mantra tracks on Insight Timer, listening to podcasts, a warm shower, new books, oranges, grilled cheese sandwiches, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.