Covid took so much from so many people.

I'm so incredibly lucky, covid showed me that I don't have to work in a cube farm, I can do my job from anywhere. It crammed my whole family into each other's business, now I know my kids better than I did before. I grew meals in a crappy suburban garden.

I lost a lot too, connections to extended family and friends. A lot of relationships died because I was afraid. People like me were dying and I didn't trust that extended family to give enough of a shit about me to wear a shitty little mask from Amazon in public. (Which turned out to be right, they lied and ended up with covid) I lost some people who were very important to me, not even to COVID, just regular old cancer.

For me, the last few years have thrown what's important into sharp relief.

I can't control anything that's going on outside my house, or even most things inside my house. But I can have Christmas trees up year round if I want to.

The trees and lights make the people I love happy too, which makes me happy.

My big dumb dogs make me happy.

That crunchy snow noise makes me happy.

The tip of my nose freezing in the wind while the rest of me is warm makes me happy.

There's so much awful out in the world and I can't really do anything about it. So I cling to all the things I've found that make me happy and I try to suck all the juice out of each and every one.

When you find the things that give you some warmth, grab them and hold on. Put your energy into the things that give you energy.