Apparently today is World Mental Health day and I am counting my blessings. I am in my happy place at our family cabin in Hope. It's a cold and rainy October day, but we are in the warm cozy cabin stocked up with coffee and pumpkin pie and books and board games and a fireplace and no agenda. We woke up late and have lazed around. Pentti made a fire outside and we made s'mores. We watched some football and picked up lattes from Starbucks. I am so thankful that we can come here to get away and at least partially forget all the craziness of life. What a joy.
The last two years have been awful: cancer and COVID. As if those weren't bad enough, I have also lost some friends. Some were easier to lose than others, but it always comes with a certain bit of sadness to realize that someone is no longer part of your life. But the ones who remain are truer than true and they make all the difference. Because I see people around me who don't have close friends and they are starting to fray at the edges. People who have always been stable and calm have started to crack. No one can make it alone, especially not now. And so I am so thankful to those people who have kept me sane. The friend who has prayed with me and held me while I cried. The friend who has gone for walks with me and allowed me to be myself. The friend who has had me over to vent over a glass of wine. I love my family, but it is my friends that have kept me going. They have made all the difference in my mental health.
