1. Morning walks. They might just stay at this shorter distance, which means I might have to start walking a bit further on my own, without my dog, and that’s just weird. Lilacs are starting to bloom so I think we might start seeing some baby geese soon. 

2. Medication, both over the counter and prescription. I had a biopsy this week that was pretty painful and a migraine ever single day since, so I’m feeling extra grateful for the help. Along with that, I’m grateful to myself for allowing the space and time to recover, even though it meant canceling my Thursday morning yoga class, and the knowing that I’m teaching them something about self-care when I do, and to my husband for helping take care of me when I’m “down.”

3. Finding Mom a new place to stay. I am feeling really good about the situation we found for Mom, in a good location that’s close to Chris and fingers crossed her older sister ends up moving in just around the corner so they’ll be close too, in a room with a view of a garden that gets lots of birds and deer, and a TV with The Hallmark Channel, with the same sort of care and company she’s had this past year, and no need to ever relocate again. Now fingers crossed the move won’t be too disruptive or confusing for her, and she’ll be content and comfortable there.

4. Signs of spring. The trees are blooming and I bought myself a bunch of spring flowers. Tillamook also has my favorite limited availability ice cream back in stock and it was one sale, buy one get one free — although I told Eric no more for awhile because I was eating it like it was my job. 🙂 Chris and Lia have been riding their bikes at the park by the river, and Ringo and I have been spending some time every day sitting in the backyard, where the grass has filled in, soft and green.

5. My tiny family, small house, little life. Comfortable, safe, and loved, hanging out together, making each other laugh. It’s everything I ever wanted. My practice room, a very small area even when empty, has been a disordered chaotic unusable space for the past few months. This week, I finally put it back together. My favorite lesson from my various practices and teachers is just this: you can try again, start over as many times as necessary, and things don’t have to be perfect in order to begin.

Bonus joy: onion buns, a big glass of clean cold water, our new futon, practicing with my Friday morning writing group, books from the library on my Kindle, turning over a new page on my calendar and picking a new image for my desktop calendar, texting with Chloe’ and Chris, Eric finishing the laundry for me, a warm shower, kind and caring medical professionals, being on Instagram again for a bit and sharing reels with Carrie and Kari and Shellie, YouTube shorts, listening to podcasts, my Shakti mat pillow (which it turns out is helpful for my migraines), other people’s pets and kids and gardens, Haflinger wool slippers, down blankets and pillows, the relationship my brother and I have as adults even after (or maybe because of) all the hard things we’ve been through, fruit, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.

1. Morning walks. We’ve been able to adjust a lot of our regular spots to something a bit shorter as Ringo gets his strength back. Today he even got to stop by and see his friend, Theresa, at her fitness studio. He was so happy he ran in the door and barked. Everything is blooming: crabapple, cherry, pear, redbud, daffodils, forsythia, Japanese quince. There are lots of robins and I even heard a mountain bluebird. Sadly, the river is so low in spots, it’s hardly even there.

2. Some things were hard and others went okay. They are most likely not going to continue to approve Mom’s hospice placement, so she has to move — AND it’s because she’s doing so well. Our first choice placement was full AND our second choice has a spot and just so happens to be a ONE minute drive away from where her older sister may be moving and is only a couple of miles from my brother’s house. My brother got my Ubox all packed and locked up so it can get shipped to me, AND we discovered that someone who has been in the house since I’ve been there stole a bunch of my dad’s coin collection. We got our taxes signed and sent, AND Ringo’s medical needs have already spent a significant portion of our refund. We went out to lunch at our favorite BBQ spot yesterday, brought home leftovers, AND Eric spent last night sleeping on the couch because his stomach hurt so I’m afraid to have the leftovers even though he said I could have all of them. The pool is open again, the new tilework complete, AND I haven’t had time yet to go. It’s like that saying about how we are falling through the air without a parachute but the good news is there’s no ground.

3. Our new bed. I finally felt sure enough about it to leave a review on their website (which I don’t do unless I really mean it), five stars and this comment:

My husband and I slept on cheaper cotton futons when we first got married because it was the frugal, easy choice. When we bought our first house, we felt like we should “upgrade” to something more adult, so we got our first king sized traditional mattress. This was about 20 years ago when you could still get a firm spring mattress that would last more than six months and it served us well. When it was time to replace it, we went through three different “hybrid” options (can’t find just springs anymore) that all, honestly, were awful. Even at their peak, they just weren’t right. They were supposedly firm, but broke down, and they had various topper material that always threw off the feel and sleep quality. This time around, we searched and searched, willing to pay just about anything, to find that old school truly firm mattress that would last and it just wasn’t available anywhere.

We started joking around about those years we slept on a futon on a pallet on the floor and that maybe we should just go back to that, and then we realized, wait, maybe we actually should try a futon again. We didn’t stop sleeping on them because we didn’t like them, we just felt pressure to be like everyone else and get a “real” mattress. So we found Comfort Pure, poured over the reviews, and landed on the Natural Coconut, Latex Wool Bed Mattress (Extra-Firm) Kind with (as we are a bit older now) a Natural Wool Three Inch Mattress Topper. We’ve only had it for less than a month so I can’t say what the longevity will be, but the sleep and feel has been so perfect and lovely, I’d willingly buy a new one every year if they only lasted that long. I can finally get a good night’s sleep again!

4. Ringo Blue. I am so glad that his belly has been doing so well for so long, that we finally got that figured out, and that his back is feeling better, his arthritis discomfort managed. At 12 years old, he’s turned into such a Mama’s boy, follows me around everywhere, has to check in and know what I’m doing at all times.

5. My tiny family, small house, little life. I finally finished my portion of the great garage clean up, with Ringo there to supervise. Next is my office, my writing and art space, with two new bookshelves to build — so many books and notebooks! I’m looking forward to it being done but I don’t know how I’m going to feel about the actual doing… 

Bonus joy: writing with my Friday morning writing group, texting with Chris and Chloe’, deactivating my Facebook account (again), comedy and comedians — this week Pete Holmes and Chris Higgins in particular, listening to podcasts — this week I’ve been binging Do You Need A Ride and Working It Out, getting books from the library to read on my Kindle, oranges, pasta, Pop-Tarts — because sometimes that’s just what you want, down blankets and pillows, sweet stories about unlikely animal friends, poetry and poets, writing in the morning while I drink my coffee and tea, Haflinger wool slippers, sitting in the backyard with Ringo and Eric, a/c (it was already 90 degrees one day last week, and we’ve already had a bunch of 80+ days), honey cornbread muffins, Diet Pepsi — because sometimes, as with Pop-Tarts, that’s just what you want, coupons from Tillamook for free full sized tubs of ice cream just because I said something nice about them, discounted bread, Dairy Queen soft-serve ice cream, steaming TV and movies, the Hallmark Channel (not for me, for my mom), soft flannel, music, trash service, indoor plumbing, wood stove fires, campfires, battery operated candles, a couch comfortable enough you can sleep on it all night, white noise machines, the sauna, electric and hybrid cars, a big glass of clean cold water, reading in bed at night while Ringo and Eric sleep.