Thank you for the thought that I need therapy because I don’t know if I am delusional, but it seems likely.

Thank you for friends who understand that my communication and interpersonal skills may be somewhat underdeveloped, but my intentions are good and I will keep trying.

Thank you for patience.

Thank you for practice sharing personal thoughts, being more open.

Thank you for new conversations with different people.

Thank you for our similarities and differences with each other.

Thank you for the instant pot, a gift from Stacey. She has given me so much (not just materially), shown love and kindness.

Thank you for lasting friendships. If it weren’t for my friends being so patient and forgiving, I wouldn’t be fortunate to know what a lasting friendship is. Thank you for their never giving up on me. I make mistakes, but I won’t give up, either. 

Thank you for those who make us better and those who are made better by us.

Thank you for Joel with LA County Public Works actually driving to the road closure, measuring the gate width, and sending pics. It’s touching when a stranger shows kindness like that. Also it’s a relief to know that the house might squeeze through that gate.

Thank you for yoga today being fun and making me feel great.

Thank you for my mouth healing, so eating and drinking aren’t painful. It may sound like I have horrible dental issues but really I don’t.

Thank you for pizza cutters.

Thank you for a thoughtful POTUS.

Thank you for the lady who took my motel reservation. She was friendly and gave a better price than online quotes. Thank you for the motel, truck, trailer, and storage lined up, and everyone who helped with them.

Thank you for prep work related to moving/house because it is a good way to overcome fears and procrastination. Also it’s a pleasure interacting socially, like today—conversations with helpful folks at LA County Public Works, LA Compost, U-Haul, and ReCover CA.

Thank you for low drama. Don’t misunderstand—arguing I love. Instead of emotionally charged, angry, or personal attacks, the best arguing is where all parties share their minds respectfully for the sake of greater understanding. Also, being overly agreeable inhibits intimacy because it blocks us from really expressing ourselves and knowing each other. Good arguing promotes expression, knowing, and thus intimacy. (I just made that up. Hopefully it’s not ridiculous.)

Thank you for hot water again and how nice it felt to have clean hair. Thank you for warm baths.

Thank you for productive days of emails and phone calls.

Thank you for the house being pretty much finished, it seems. Thank you for the luxury of dealing with trusted and respected builders, and for what a learning process it has been. Thank you for a living space that appears well suited to me. It may end up sold at some point, who knows. For now, it seems nice.

Thank you for the insight that my aesthetic preferences differ from some around me, and it doesn’t mean I have “bad taste.” Maybe I just like different things. What’s ugly, plain, or boring in certain circles may be beautiful, calming, and pleasant in others. Thank you also for aesthetic preferences that change over time.

Thank you for positive affirmations.

Thank you for persistence to make at least a tiny amount of progress each day.

Thank you for refunds and exchanges.

Thank you for realistic optimism.

Thank you again for repeated thank yous.

Thank you for uncertainty.

Thank you for pooches. Thank you for tails wagging.

Thank you for how happy my body feels after breakfast.

Thank you for a fun bike ride in perfect weather—no jacket, no puffy gloves.

Thank you for rest afterward because I overdid it.

Thank you for sore, sunburned legs and arms.

Thank you for Kayla’s chalk drawings.

Thank you for takeout and the people who make it possible.

Thank you for neighbors enjoying coffee together in the sunshine.

Thank you for my mom and sister and her Jeff all being vaccinated already, and everyone else besides them.

Thank you for moving day only one week later than originally scheduled.

Thank you for everyone I’ve met here, mostly and especially neighbors.

Thank you for daffodils.

Thank you for minimalism.

Either way, thank you for water extinguishing fire.

Thank you for a level of awareness of both my own anger and how highly contagious any anger can be.

Thank you for the elderly lady who runs up and around the arroyo with her partner following on a bike. She’s an inspiration.

Thank you for lent almost over.

Thank you for my grandma’s spirit.

Thank you for I Love Lucy playing at the dentist’s office. Little Ricky is my favorite.

Thank you for Dr. Tran wishing me well on the move.

Thank you for our dreams communicating with us.

Thank you for the Plum Village talk on forgiveness where Thich Nhat Hanh shared about the soldier in Vietnam who intentionally killed multiple innocent villagers, and they all happened to be children. The positive outcome for the soldier might anger some, but I’m grateful for the message that forgiveness is available to us all, no matter what we’ve done. That story made me a mushy snotty mess.

Thank you maybe even more for the Plum Village talk on going home to the self, connecting with the self. TNH draws such pretty circles. My eyes leaked again to hear about home and making a home for ourselves so that we can be there for others. Hopefully if you listen you will understand.

Thank you for radical spiritual leaders who go beyond the mass marketed forms of love with societally sanctioned limits (those limits give us permission to go ahead and hate on each other for this or that taboo transgression). Thank you for leaders who teach and live unlimited love and forgiveness. Thank you for the hope to become more like them with continued effort.

Thank you for the Rich Roll Podcast episode with the Sherzai doctors discussing cognitive decline, dementia, and prevention. Parts of that had me blubbering, too. 

Thank you for how quiet it is here at the condo.

Thank you for thoughtfully designed metropolitan areas.

Thank you for warm, clean shelters from heat, rain, wind, snow….

Thank you for Anita’s cookie-scone recipe.

Thank you for flashbacks.

Thank you for careful drivers.

Thank you for nursery shopping.

Thank you for living gifts to remember loved ones by.

Thank you for shared drinks.

Thank you for giving without possessiveness.

Thank you for when we help the ones we are supposed to be competing against, even if it’s in games.

Thank you for egos that don’t take themselves too seriously and aren’t all that defensive.

Thank you for easygoing comfort.

Thank you for acceptance without demands or pressure.

Thank you for viparita karani and avocado toast.

Thank you for coziness.

Thank you for presence.

Thank you for voices that are a pleasure to hear. Thank you for when words and the way they’re spoken make for enjoyable listening.

Thank you for rainbows.

Thank you for joy

Thank you for blessings.

Thank you for intimacy.

Thank you for life and laughter and love.

Thank you for yesterdays.

Thank you for today.

Thank you for tomorrow.