A friend graciously took us fishing today; caught our limit in fewer than four hours. We will feed our freezers and our neighbors with nearly two hundred pounds of fresh food this week. I can’t believe we live here.

Today, I worked on a crossword puzzle with an elderly woman who is literally losing her mind to dementia and depression. Today, I chatted my mom through the logistics of my grandfather’s hospice admission. Today, I ran down the hall at the sound of the overhead code announcements, only to find that a perfectly competent team had a perfectly competent handle on several patients who had rapidly decompensated. Today, I finished my interview process for the Chief Nursing Officer position at South Peninsula Hospital. I love scrappy, critical access healthcare. I love being a nurse, especially today. Happy Nurses Day.

It’s very unlike me to buck tradition, but we celebrated Cinco de Mayo this year with… wood-fired pizza. This week marks the opening of Alaskan summer, ushered in with the Shorebird Festival and several anticipated announcements of our treasured spots reopening on the Homer Spit. We called as soon as Finn’s phone line was up and running, successfully scoring the last table of the night. It was glorious.

Tonight, I watched principal interviews for my kids’ school, and text messaged with friends, and danced around my kitchen late into the night. May the 4th be with you.

One year ago today, we laid our sweet Delilah to rest. Tonight, we spent our supper laughing and crying and scrolling through old videos and pictures. We finished the night checking on my grandfather, our gentle giant of a patriarch who is getting tired and fading away from us at the ripe young age of ninety-five. What a gift, to experience feelings out loud, surrounded by people we love.

There is nothing quite like getting to the end of a stretch of strained communication with your husband, and asking him about your strengths and weaknesses as he cooks dinner and you prep for an interview. Highly recommend, I think.

It’s gonna be May and all of that; my goal is to pick a hobby or three by the end of the month.