Untethered Dog

19 Tuesday

• Only one more night.
• A clean oven top.
• Spinach.
• Leslie Frazier.
• Ice.
• A closed door.
• What the body says.
• Your furnace.

• Mint-chocolate-chip gelato.

18 Monday

• A little alcohol. Just a little.
• How little it takes for you to get the benefit — the effect — of something.
• Chili night.
• Your Crockpot.
• Walks with friends.
• A tired dog.
• Push-ups.
• Tom Brady.
• Journalists.
• Feeling ahead.
• Having work to do.

17 Sunday

• Newspapers.
• Yourself.
• Extra sleep.
• Corn chips.
• Clean sidewalks.
• Your ability to find and make meaning.
• Your values.
• Cereal for dessert.

16 Saturday

• The chance to recover.
• The chance to learn about the Self.
• A snowless path.
• Making plans with your money.
• The antibodies your body produces during exercise.
• Landing the week well.
• When you are in a position to help someone who otherwise might have been left with the wrong answer.
• Dark chocolate ginger balls. Yeah, that’s right.

15 Friday

• Coffee on a short morning.
• Figuring out a new way to give your dog his medications.
• The end of a long day.
• The end of any week.
• When it doesn’t snow as much as they say (knock-knock).
• The feeling of your dog’s warm body on your legs.
• When you keep up with the shoveling.
• Eggs for dinner.

13 Wednesday

• An emotional block removed. Or at least moved aside.
• Above freezing temps in January.
• The right call.
• Saving money.
• Something to chew on.
• When you slip in and out of the dream state.
• The fact that Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers were not physically harmed on 1/06. The more that is learned about the insurrection that day the more it seems that was the awful and in-American intent.
• The chance to write your responses.
• Baked beans.

12 Tuesday

• Morning meditation.
• Extra time in the evening.
• Reading in the evening.
• Mid-day walks in January.
• Walking after eating.
• Getting your protein in.
• Everyone who is trying to do the right thing in response to the insurrection against our nation instigated by the person elected to lead our nation.
• The shadows in your backyard.

10 Sunday

• The mood-altering effect of laughter.
• When it’s just warm enough to walk.
• Wild card weekend.
• Walt Whitman.
• Public libraries.
• Making it up as you go along.
• Small Yukon gold potatoes (with garlic).

9 Saturday

• Extra sleep.
• The chance to care tor your dog — even when he wakes you in the middle of the night.
• New workout journals.
• When the daytime deliveries work out just right.
• Meat by mailbox: what a concept.
• The chance to breathe.

8 Friday

• Knowing your job.
• Getting someone else’s money back (for them).
• Just enough snow to cover up the yellow parts of your backyard.

7 Thursday

A customer service person named Moira who kindly removed a concern with your dog’s medications.

6 Wednesday

• Ice skating.
• Sidewalk sliding.
• Tater tots.
• Americans.
• Georgia.
• Laws.
• The Constitution.
• Fried onions.
• When you close your eyes and immediately fall asleep.

5 Tuesday

• Meetings that make the day fly by.
• Short workouts.
• Being looked to.
• Clarity about the source of an anxiety.
• Cod.
• Mental regroup.
• Essays.
• Limes.

4 Monday

• An unexpected phone call.
• Having ample energy despite paltry sleep.
• The healing power of honey.

3 Sunday

• $5 coupons that come in the mail right before a necessary purchase.
• Spicy chai protein shakes.
• Sunday Sermons.
• The Sun.
• Trap bars.
• Hot honey sliding down your throat.
• Your mother’s birth.
• Your dog’s eyes.

2 Saturday

• Speaking truth.
• What the body knows.
• When the dog is in charge of the walk.
• Tending to The One Thing.
• Billy Crystal.
• That you keep thinking it’s a day later than it is.
• The Americans.
• A clean warm blanket.

1 Friday

• That the First is on a Friday. Perfect.
• Sleeping in.
• Setting goals. But not too many.
• Clarity of purpose.
• Cinnamon oatmeal.