1. Morning walks. We got to walk all three of us together a few times this week. To be fair, we could have done that every day but some mornings Eric and Ringo went and were back before I even got out of bed. We still haven’t had any snow. The forecast keeps teasing it and then taking it away again. I think this is the latest we’ve ever gone without any snow in the 25+ years I’ve lived here. 

2. Ringo got his own apartment for one night. Eric and I were so tired one night, we forgot to put Ringo in his bed, or rather I thought Eric had and he thought I had and Ringo was so crashed out in the living room he didn’t even notice us go to bed and slept out there the whole night. When Eric went to let Ringo out of his crate in the morning, half asleep still, he found the door open and the crate empty, but still he stayed there for a few minutes, saying over and over, “he’s not in there, where is he?” We both got up and walked down the hall and by the time Eric turned on the kitchen light, Ringo was up and heading in for breakfast. I always thought if we left him out, he’d come find us to remind us, maybe even try to get in our bed, or that he’d go outside at some point and I’d wake up to hear him barking in the backyard. None of those things happened. He just slept and so did we. We aren’t going to repeat it though. I like him sleeping where I can hear him.

3. Thanksgiving. It may have been the quietest one yet. We spent the day, just the three of us, cooking and napping and eating. I texted with my brother and he called his dad, but we both were missing our moms.

4. Reading. I just realized that I probably read 2-4 hours every day, which is more time than I spend doing anything else, besides sleeping.

5. My tiny family, small house, little life. I’ve told Eric every day this week how glad I am that he’s home, after being in California most of last week for a work conference. He’s got about two weeks of work left before winter break and next semester he’s on sabbatical to finish a book he and his teaching partner have been working on and then it will be summer break, so soon and for a while I’ll get to see a lot more of him. 

Bonus joy: stuffing (or since I don’t stuff a bird with it, maybe I should call it dressing?), apple pie, having all the laundry done, the way Eric cleans when he’s bored, pay day, stained glass, my Merlin app, sunshine even on a cold day, birds, Hendrix’s school picture, other people’s kids and dogs, cat purrs, down blankets and pillows, a big glass of cold clean water, grapefruit Bubly, grocery shopping, listening to podcasts, listening to audio books, watching good TV, movies on demand, streaming content, libraries and librarians, poetry and poets, texts from Chloe’ and Kari and Shellie, still laughing about Maria and Jackie’s comedy shows, that Andrea Gibson gave so many interviews and made so many videos so I can still hear their voice and see their face, that “the girls” started reading again now that they are older so I can share my favorite books with them, dinner plans with Chelsey and Jon, Christmas lights, napping, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.

1. Morning walks. I got to do all of them except for one this week, as Eric was gone for a conference. Because he and Ringo get up at 4 am, I adjusted my schedule, or rather adhered to theirs, and because we were up so much earlier and I was so tired, I was afraid if I sat down for a bit before we walked, I wouldn’t want to get back up again, so we walked early enough that we only saw the very beginnings of the sunrise and walked mostly in the dark. And yet, the sky was clear most of the week, so we got to see tons of stars.

2. Celebrating birthdays. This week, I turned 58 and Ringo turned 12. His birthday in particular made me super happy — I’ve never had a truly old dog, and every year he gets closer. He’s doing so well right now that I think it might take him a few more years to seem like he’s anything close to “old.” My last two birthdays have made me sad, with my dad and Eric’s mom being gone and my mom not here in the same way, with all the cards and calls that don’t come. And one thing I forgot about being off Facebook is all those birthday wishes wouldn’t come either. “It’s my party, and I’ll cry if I want to…” And yet, it made me that much more grateful for the wishes that did come, and each one seemed so much sweeter.

3. Funny women. Last night, I got to see Jackie Kashin and Maria Bamford along with my funny friends Barb and Chloe’ and Laura and Jen. We laughed so hard, our faces hurt. I’ve seen both of them perform a couple of times before and they never disappoint. Making people laugh is a type of magic and laughing together is medicine.

4. Ringo. I was worried that without Eric here to “beat him down” (it’s all in good fun and Ringo loves it, I swear) and his afternoon walks, he’d be restless, but he was so good for me, so sweet, and it was kind of nice to have him all to myself, although I missed Eric like crazy and would always rather have him here too.

5. My tiny family, small house, little life. I’m so glad Eric is back home now and we are going to all be together in the same place for a week of rest and relaxation over Thanksgiving break. I’m so grateful for my life!

Bonus joy: birthday cake, Hendrix’s school picture, a hot cup of coffee and warm mug of tea, taking care of myself, canceling things I don’t have the capacity for, how when you are reading multiple books they start being in conversation with each other in ways you couldn’t have predicted, flower seeds from Chloe’, the way people swap and share plants like how I have four different kinds of irises and they were all gifts from someone else’s garden, stickers, picking out a sticker to go on a new blank notebook and how sometime when I’m looking for a particular notebook from a specific time I recognize it because of the sticker on the front, down blankets and pillows, leftovers, grocery shopping, $.70 off per gallon of gas because of grocery rewards points that pile up because my car is a hybrid (and Eric’s an electric) and I don’t drive that many miles because I would almost always rather stay home and when I do go somewhere it’s usually only a few miles away, having so many trails close by I can walk Ringo every day and each walk is in a different location, how we always have the radio on playing music or episodes of Dateline or old radio shows from the “Golden Age of Radio” in the 30s and 40s, other people’s dogs and kids, Reddit (where I’m spending way too much time now that I’m not on Facebook or Instagram), The Lincoln Center, Zoom, grapefruit Bubly, naps, libraries and librarians, poetry and poets, first responders, texting with my brother, good TV (which is sometime bad TV too), streaming content, listening to podcasts, mood lighting, twinkle lights, all the Christmas lights going up, that one house that decorates their yard for Christmas with nothing but dog decorations, watercolor, glue stick, talking to Mom on the phone for a few minutes on my birthday, the voice note Jessamy sent of the kids saying “Happy Birthday, Auntie Jill,” what Chris wrote on the card he sent me, his tender heart, reading in bed at night while Ringo and Eric sleep (which I get to do tonight after four nights without the Eric half).