I’m two weeks out from writing my list.  Oh man, I need some self-compassion for my lack of consistency.  This mid-week list --we’ll just say it’s for the last two.  Anyone for an absolution?  Do I hear an amen?

1.  I almost forgot to make my list of things I’m learning, wanting to learn, wish I could learn, if only I’d learn.   

2. I almost forgot that it’s my new friend Jena’s birthday today and my medium-old friend Rita’s birthday on Friday.  Thank all the tea in China for Facebook applications that remind us of such important things. 

3. I almost forgot how fun it is to walk Geronimo in the morning when I’m in joy.  Not in duty.  Not even in service.   Joy.  And it cometh in the morning.

4. I almost forgot that

You do not have to be good. 
You do not have to walk on your knees 
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.   
You only have to let the soft animal of your body 
love what it loves.       --from Mary Oliver’s ‘Wild Geese’

5. I almost forgot to book a trip to Mexico with friends for February.  But then I remembered.  Zihuatenejo, I’m coming, honey.  Save some soul food, soul-warming sand and water, soul enlivening color and texture, soulful laughter of lovely folk for me.  

6. I almost forgot that fasting from the everyday food (rich in carbs) can make me feel deeper movement in my life, like there’s a dance beat that’s been going on, and I’ve been drowning it out with ice cream.  Silly me.

7. I almost forgot what it’s like to feel balanced, right on the fulcrum, between the need for security and the need for freedom.  But this week, I remembered. 

8. I almost forgot what it’s like to be a university student, struggling to find my path, weary already from the battle.  But my good young friends helped me remember.  Blessings on their sweet heads.

9. I almost forgot that telling some truths is akin to breaking  taboos.   

10. I almost forgot to laugh at the absurdity of my forgetting any of these things. But then I remembered.