1. Truth: Change takes time, patience, effort. Whenever I get frustrated about how long something is taking, I remember that it can be like turning a cruise ship around — just because you know you are going in the wrong direction and need to turn around doesn’t mean it can happen right away, doesn’t mean you can manifest the shift as soon as you are aware of the need. It can take a lot of time to course correct, and if you try to go too fast, try to push it or force it or speed it up, you can sink the boat altogether. (But even though this is true, you don’t give up, you keep turning even though it looks to everyone else like you aren’t moving at all).

2. Truth: A good yoga class first thing in the morning is the best. Having breakfast with a friend you don’t get to see much right after is even better. A long voice message from a friend or a good podcast can make working out at the gym so much more fun, make it easier to stay a few extra minutes, do just one more thing. Getting enough sleep, eating good food, and drinking enough water can make all the difference. Cuddling with a dog keeps you warm in more ways than just one. Reading is the best, both the question and the answer. Knowing someone loves you, that you matter, can be the one thing that keeps you from giving up. Laughing and crying feel a lot alike. These things are all related, both magic and medicine.

3. Truth: Community, compassion, creativity, and a sense of humor are foundational. I’m absolutely counting on them to get me through.

One Wish: That you, kind and gentle reader, know you are an angel of the get through.

Every good heart has lost its roof.
Let all the walls collapse at your feet,
Scream timber when they ask you how you are.
Fine is the suckiest word. It is the opposite of HERE
Here is the only place left on the map
Here is where you learn laughter can go extinct
and come back

1. Truth: I’m grateful for Sam’s health. He has a lump on his side, and today we found out it’s a benign fatty tumor (a lipoma), not cancer. If you know our experience with dogs and cancer, you know that this is a mini Christmas miracle.

2. Truth: I had ambitious plans for today. Well, what I really mean is I meant to go to the gym. However, after meditating, writing, putting away laundry, going on a two hour walk, showering, and taking Sam to the vet, after worrying what the news would be for the past week, I came home and took a long nap instead. I was so tired, relieved but tired.

3. Truth: One of my aunts died yesterday. We knew it was coming. She knew it was coming. It was her second time with cancer and treatments had stopped working a while ago. She hadn’t spoken or been awake for the past week at least. She told my mom she’d make it until Christmas, but I’m sure when she said that, she’d planned on celebrating the day. She didn’t have the easiest life, spent a lot of it confused, and cancer is never easy, but she was surrounded and cared for by people who loved her (always, not just at the end), which is so much more than many people get.

One wish: While we are here, may we care for ourselves and be cared for by others, and when we go, may our death be easy.