what i love right now
A bi-weekly series focused on non-consumable joy.
Hello hello hello. I just came back to “the real world” from eight days on vacation, and it was magical. I realized, right before the trip, that I was experiencing some signs of burnout and feeling overwhelmed. (One of my goals next year is to take more time off, which has been harder while I have a day job that doesn’t provide PTO—more on this in an upcoming post.) I drove across three U.S. states, and I saw some of the most incredible landscapes.
It inspired me to start a new “series”—whoa, listen to me— on a handful of things that I’m loving these days. I may, at times, include one or two “consumable” things, but the goal is really to focus on what brings me joy that is not purchasable.
1. Small, unexpected conversations with strangers
Part of my trip involved staying in Flagstaff, AZ. This hotel had a jacuzzi, which turned out to be outdoors. My partner convinced me to go to the jacuzzi even though it was 9 p.m. and about 30 degrees Fahrenheit outside. (It took some convincing.)
Well, after initially being the only two people in a hot tub at the threshold of winter desert weather, another person entered the hot tub. His name was Joe, and we had a pleasant conversation about his time living in Flagstaff over twenty years.
I had several interactions like this on my trip. One of them was long enough to be its own story, so I’ll write about that soon.
Another was when I went to mail some postcards. The man at the counter of the store asked how I was doing, so I asked him in return. “Oh, I’m good. Why not be good? I used to care about nothing, but two years ago I had open heart surgery. Now, I take every day as I have it.”
It’s easy to overlook things like this with cynicism or as oversharing, but I appreciate someone sharing gratitude with me. It is easy to let go of the fragility of our lives when surrounded with the banal demands put on us as payment for living in our societies, but little else is as humbling as knowing we’ll all die.
When I reflect on death, I find it frees me from a lot of those banal payments that I give my attention to so readily otherwise. I also learned other things from this man, such as that he hates traveling internationally—“a desert there is a desert here,” as he said. I don’t know that I agree, but when did I last genuinely encounter a stranger’s opinion about something random that wasn’t a social media post or comment? Been a while.
2. Petting dogs
I’m one of those people who prefers the company of non-human animals and plants, even though I really love humans, too. (Why else would I be a writer? I don’t know.) Being on a trip meant being away from my dog, Smudge, which is hard for me. That may sound a little weird to non-pet people, but Smudge is a big part of my day. I feed her and walk her every morning. I eat dinner around when she eats dinner.
But I was very lucky to meet several great dogs on my trip. Their names were Toucan, Kitten, Scout, and Fred.
Kitten, who we met in Tempe, AZ, was the pet of a friend of my partner’s, and she’s eleven and had recently lost her eyesight. Her maneuverability was amazing. My partner and I crashed in our sleeping bags in our friend’s living room, and Kitten kept us company.
3. The sun during wintertime
As a person who has lived most of their adult life on the east coast of North America, I’ve definitely noticed some seasonal affective disorder kicking in this time of year. While I totally appreciate a gloomy winter day or a cold, rainy one, I also notice the impact on my energy levels.
Spending a few weeks in the southwest, I was amazed by how much sun I woke up to, even as winter shortens the daylight. As I drove across Arizona, I would often shout, “Look at the sky!” “Look at all that sun!” “I think I love the sun!”
Because I am usually always in the east coast this time of year, I don’t normally experience such a big difference in sun exposure, but it was not something I took for granted.
4. Deer sightings
Depending on where you live, this might sounds ridiculous. My partner, for example, grew up regularly seeing deer. I did not see deer because I lived in a major city and deer were mostly things that people shot on weekend hunting trips, which was not part of my lifestyle. I didn’t see a deer in the wild (that was not taxidermy) until I was in my 20s. Now, I freak out over seeing any animal, really, but as my partner and I were preparing to leave Flagstaff, AZ, I looked out my window and saw, in the small lightly wooded area of our cabin, three deer: a doe, a buck, and a fawn. They were walking carefully through this area, and I tip-toed out onto the small patio balcony to photograph them with my old Kodak EasyShare camera.
Tears escaped from my eyes as I watched them. There is something awe-striking about witnessing a family of other animals, of their graceful, careful movements, and the overlap of our shared ecosystem that totally took my breath away.
It was also Halloween, and while I only dabble in the spiritually spooky, I felt it may have been a sign from my mom saying hello from beyond the veil. After all, I inherited all of my animal obsession from her.
What’s been bringing you joy lately? I’d love to know! Please tell me in the comments.