1. Morning walks. We are having some really nice spring weather, nowhere close to as much rain as we need but everything that blooms this time of year is lasting so long (we’ve still got lilacs!), and Eric finally saw some baby geese last week. Someone posted a video on Nextdoor of a bobcat hunting at Kestrel Fields where we regularly walk and where Ringo is always extra interested in all the smells. Eric saw a coyote there once so now I’m adding bobcats to the list.

2. Mom is settled in, and seems to be doing okay with the move. She’s got The Hallmark Channel and a big window looking out into the backyard.

3. Our new futon mattress. Now that we’ve had it for a bit, I know that it’s not just better than our old mattress but it’s just really good, just what we were looking for, and I’m going to miss it when we are in Oregon at the house at the coast because if they have the same beds as last time, they aren’t so great.

4. Being married for a long time (30+ years). It’s nice to have someone who remembers the things you do, has been with you for more than half your life. This week, I was thinking about the first apartment we lived in, the basement of a house here in Fort Collins, and about how if we’d known then that things were going to work out for us, I might have relaxed and enjoyed it more — that was the thing about me in my 20s, I just wanted to know what was going to happen, how it was going to turn out, and the not being sure drove me crazy. I told Eric it would be fun to go back knowing what we know now and spend a week in that other earlier life. He suggested we pretend that we are 80 year old versions of ourself who came back in time to visit this moment. I started jogging in place and doing squats, miming an 80 year old me happy to be back in my younger body, “look at this, look at what I can do, look at my teeth!” and Eric said, “awww, hi Ringo, we remember you.”

5. My tiny family, small house, little life. Eric being on summer break and our trip to Oregon are coming up fast. In the meantime, I’m continuing to organize and clean up, putting up new dressers and shelves, incorporating things from Mom and Dad’s while also getting rid of stuff we don’t need anymore, and weeding the garden — we got so little moisture this winter and spring that we aren’t planting anything new, considering this a fallow maintenance year. As much as I’m looking forward to getting away with Ringo and Eric, I’m also looking forward to coming back and being home again — because I love it here with them.

Bonus joy: I don’t have to fix it, finally seeing Carrie (we had tea together at her house so I could also see Tony the Tiger, and both of us had gone to Mary’s Mountain Cookies to get snacks, so there were a lot of cookies), texting with Chloe’, yoga at Red Sage (Ringo came early to get a shockwave treatment before practice and got to stay, and did SO good, so much better than I expected), writing with my Friday morning sangha, sitting in the backyard with Eric and Ringo, naps, oatmeal chocolate chip, new garden tools, Insight Meditation app classes, down pillows and blankets, clean sheets, getting in the pool and sauna, seeing my gym dad Frank, writing in my notebook every morning, honeybees, ladybugs, zebra jumping spiders, peppermint tea, a big salad, disabling YouTube on my phone (short reels had replaced my social media scroll), rain, naps, reading in bed at night while Ringo and Eric sleep. 

1. Morning walks. We for sure felt the coyote close by at Kestrel natural area this week. Because it’s been such an early, long, warm spring, I keep expecting to start seeing animal babies but that’s probably still a few weeks out. We saw our neighbor walking alone at the ponds and found out that our longtime neighbor dog, her partner for the past 14.5 years, Ringo’s enemy at the fence but friend in the streets, had passed. Good dog, Rizzo. 🐾💔 We miss you. 

Special edition gallery of all the animals Ringo and Eric saw on their walks this week. I was so surprised by the video, how close the heron let the deer get to it.

2. The pool at the gym being open. There have already been a few days that the heater wasn’t working, but after being closed for close to a full month to put in the new tile and paint and then another closure when some fool dropped and broke a bottle and got glass in the water so it had to be drained and cleaned, I’ll take it even when it’s cold. Getting in multiple days a week, followed up by sitting in the sauna, makes a huge difference to how I feel. Seriously, just looking at this picture makes me happy.

3. Moving day for Mom. I’m anxious to hear how it goes later today and hope she settles in as easily as she did the last time she had to move. I’m confident we found her a good place where she’ll be well cared for and have good company and be comfortable. And it turns out she qualified for hospice care for at least one more month, so they will be visiting her at her new address, providing some extra support that I think will help her make the transition smoothly.

4. Practice. Eric bought me some tulips when he was at the store this morning and I put them in one of my dad’s pottery steins on my meditation shrine. I didn’t realize how much it was going to mean to me, how comforting it would be to have Mom and Dad’s things in my house.

5. My tiny family, small house, little life. With all the new things from Mom and Dad’s and some cleaning up and clearing out of our things along with replacing some furniture that was not great to begin with and now close to 25 years old, I’ve been having fun rearranging and organizing around here. My peonies are filling out and filling up with buds that will most likely bloom before we leave for Oregon. With the long warm spring, my lilac bushes are still full of blooms at least a full week or two longer than usual.

Bonus joy: my irises blooming, the smell of lilacs when the wind blows, sitting in the backyard with Eric and Ringo, onion buns, hot coffee sweetened with hot cocoa, aqua aerobics, seeing my “gym dad” Frank, all the women in the sauna that one day, Sunday morning Pilates, rain, the particular yellow of the neighbor’s Honey Locust tree, how long the redbuds bloomed this year, the three wild turkeys I saw this morning by the feed store, getting all the laundry done and put away even the extra loads, Ringo’s visit with Bronwen and how cute their relationship is, Ringo’s visit with Kelly and his “really good” bloodwork, how excited Ringo got when I was writing with my Friday morning group and Chloe’ logged in and people said “Hi, Chloe'” and he knew what that meant and wanted to see her and so she adjusted her camera to show him Franny his dog friend, finding the right shelves for plants by the front door where the “good light” lands in the mornings, watching The Pitt (even though this season feels a bit more intense), listening to podcasts, sleeping in, being cold and cuddling up, down blankets and pillows, our new futon mattress with the wool topper, a big glass of clean cold water, potato chips in my sandwich, peanut butter, marionberry jam from Auntie T, pancakes, naps, reading in bed while Eric and Ringo sleep.