I Like It When...

…the morning walk is more of a mosey.

…a hardboiled egg peels easily as I’m pressed for time before going to work.

…people care enough to confront rather than sidestep tension in a relationship.

…Bumper drops to the ground suddenly and rolls onto his back when we’re walking the field path, demanding affection. And does this every two feet.

…after a hot bath, I put on my red plaid pjs, get a blanket, and sit outside on the front porch in the chilly winter air.

…the northern flickers dangle patiently from the bottom of the red barn bird feeder and continue to eat and sway, and I’ll bet they never throw up like I would.

…books we’ve reserved at the library come in, and we pick them up at the drive-through window.

…a mini donut muffin recipe is wildly adaptable.

…not all the mail is bills.

…friends send me chocolate candy wrappers for an art piece I’m working on.

…I find that $10 Amazon gift card I hid for safekeeping and then couldn’t remember where that was, and can now resume wondering what I’ll spend it on.

…Patrick says “love that girl”, and he means me.

…the ginger we added to the chicken in the Instant Pot makes it’s presence known in the last bite.

…words and tears flow in the most cleansing way.

…Pam laughs.

…Maria finishes her sentences with “and all that happy crap”.

…the washing machine plays that little digital tune at the end of the speed cycle and it startles me when I’m alone in the house.

…I’m the only one awake and it’s dark outside and everything is possible.

…the first snow of the season feels fresh, and the last one feels like it really is the last one.

…every single leaf on the 41.1 acres of paradise where I live with the man of my dreams and we keep dreaming into the next twenty-seven years of our magical and humbling life hangs from its branch in complete stillness.

…my friend Ann texts me these really humorously irreverent memes and I laugh out loud at the most inappropriate moments.

…the PO box holds the key to one of the larger PO boxes, and the big package we were expecting has arrived.

…people read this far into one of my blog posts. And keep reading.

…Copper sits as close to the space heater as she can, or smoothly settles down on top of the register when the furnace kicks on.

…there are leftovers from any Mexican-themed dinner and all you gotta do is put an egg on ‘em and it’s breakfast.

…that one hummingbird hovers outside the studio window, looks at me, then at the empty feeder, then back at me…with that look in his eye. You know the one I mean.

…no explanations are needed.

…a book I haven’t read in a while is still as good as I remember it.

…I walk outside and the colors and bits of white clouds in the blue sky make me feel like I’m living in an oil painting by one of the masters.

…the vending machine at work has Veggie Straws.

…a murmuration of starlings shape-shifts its way across the outerbelt, and I take my eyes off the road for the tiniest of moments to watch them transform from a flat wall to an undulating moebius strip.

…the ground beneath the last mulberry tree in the meadow to shed its summer coat is covered with caramel-chocolate colored leaves and I pretend I’m walking through a most unusual al fresco candy store.

…a trip to the ER doesn’t result in a hospital admission, and we’re out of there in less that two hours, heading toward pain medication and empathetic caregiving cats and the dual recliner and…home.

…I trade needing approval from pretty much everyone for the less unencumbered mantle of vulnerable authenticity.

…I need a dictionary to make it through one of Michael Perry’s essays.

…on the morning walk, I lower the hood of my OSU sweatshirt and remove my unicorn headwrap so I can listen to the silence of the woods more clearly.

…there are enough ingredients to make a second batch of those mini broccoli Parmesan quiches.

Dear reader, fellow traveler and noticer of life, what do you like?

I’m wide awake.

You have my undivided attention.