Things that have been part of, or have come into my life this year that I feel gratitude for:

• Learning how to make soaps & salves
• Playing video games
• Hanging out in the FLCC writing center, before… everything
• Alice in Wonderland
• The dishwashing sink in the deli at the grocery store nearest my house
• Having health insurance coverage
• because I have glasses now
• and I no longer have wisdom teeth
• and it took a while but I finally have a therapy and medication setup in place.
• My therapist. She is wonderful
• Books
• Sam Vimes
• Granny Weatherwax & Nanny Ogg
• Tiffany
• Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake, and Oy. The ka-tet.
• The Last Podcast on the Left
• Amanda Palmer
• Philosophy, the last ditch college exit stratagy that turned out to be a pretty good time
• John Mullaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch
• A podcast called How to Save a Planet
• The Black Lives Matter movement and the things that it woke up in me
• The leftist political perspective
• Evie’s adventures away at college
• Evie’s return home
• This blog
• My cats
• Dogs everywhere
• The weighted blanket my parents found for me for Christmas in 2019
• The existence of crocheted blankets
• My shoes
• Showers
• The band called Rising Appalachia
• also Nickle Creek
• and Aoife O’Donovan.
• All the candles I burned in my room
• The existence of sage
• My grandmother’s ring
• Purple hair
• My eastern philosophy class
• Trevor Noah, Stephen Colbert, John Oliver
• A friend who tells me about stories
• A friend who makes things out of wood
• A friend who likes to go for walks
• A friend who sends me memes
• A friend through whom I can vicariously homestad
• A group chat filled with small adventures
• My sisters and my cousins and my parents and a whole assortment of Cooley people. And my family by choice
• Church, when the stars align
• Revolutionary Girl Utena
• G**rge’s Woods
• The road where I walk, across from my house
• Learning about home brewing
• Learning about German
• A warm green vest, an old grey coat, and a yellow scarf from Amsterdam
• A workspace in the barn
• Dandelion wine
• Dancing
• Hugs
• Coffee
• Memes…

I find that I could keep going, but I need to step away.

Happy new year. I love you much.