What To Look Forward To

I never thought this would happen but here we are… almost 3 months in to this pandemic and quarantine. While things in my state are reopening, cases haven’t consistently gone down for the recommended amount of time for it to be considered “safe”. So… we’re still mostly hanging out at home, getting take out, and limiting activities to things that can be done outside (Arboretum, farmer’s market, berry picking, parks). Unfortunately, the activities that my husband and I enjoy the most (travel, concerts, live sports, more travel, live sports while traveling) are indefinitely on hold.

As someone who takes great joy in looking forward to and planning these things… it’s a bit of a bummer. It’s possible to feel both grateful that my family is safe/healthy AND a sense of loss/grief over “normal” life. Things I was looking forward to this year (my cousin’s wedding, graduations, traveling to new places and favorite old ones, visiting my brother in NYC, Dallas Mavericks games, concerts) are definitely not happening. There’s also a sense of anger/disappointment over how authority figures handled this whole situation. All these mixed emotions and the lack of “looking forward to something” can really suck the joy out of the day to day. So as a reminder to myself (and others, if it’s helpful)… here are the small, tiny, daily happy joys to hold on to (and seasonal things to look forward to because… time definitely doesn’t stop for Mother Earth) when we can’t look forward to the big, grand life events…

1. Tea at dawn
2. Birds chirping and happy plants in spring
3. Thunderstorms and the smell of jasmine in summer
4. The first chill of fall after a brutal late summer
5. Early nights and twinkle lights in the winter
6. A favorite song coming on while shuffling through a playlist
7. Linen sheets in bed to keep you just warm or cool enough
8. The softest oversized sweatsuits to wear on repeat
9. Puppy snoots and paws
10. Seeing a new leaf pop up on what appeared to be an unhappy plant
11. Finally figuring out the hardest part of the puzzle
12. Easy boxed cakes with rainbow sprinkles for no reason besides it being Monday
13. Finding a quote that resonates
14. A DIY project that goes right
15. Crossing off all the tasks on a to-do list (no matter how small)
16. Candles that burn all day long
17. The smell of pine trees (even if it’s from above mentioned candle) to remind you of mountain hikes in the summer and snowy forests in the winter
18. Saturday (and Sunday) afternoon naps (especially when it’s raining)
19. DIY cocktails and coffee shop drinks
20. Planning for the holidays (no matter what that looks like this year)
21. Creating (and following though) on plans for the backyard
22. Finding a new show to binge watch (just finished Kingdom on Netflix!) and rewatching old favorites (Harry Potter)
23. Continuing to minimize the house
24. Any live sports on television (lately we’ve gotten into the KBO in our household!)
25. Seeing a friend (whether it be through a social distanced picnic, through a window, or virtually)