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This week we finally got our first real hint of spring. The kind where you can open the windows and let the outside world back in after months of keeping it at bay.

I’ve been thinking about the gap between the list of things I want to get done and the things I actually get done. For a long time, my attention went almost entirely to what wasn’t finished, and kept getting pushed back. Recently I’ve been trying to flip that around and look at what did happen. Turns out it’s usually plenty. Writing. Teaching. Following through on things that matter. The list of what’s actually getting done is longer than I give it credit for.

At the moment, my life is in disarray. A record Arctic cold snap has turned normal routines upside down. The water to the upstairs is shut off. We’re going crazy each night to keep the remaining pipes from freezing. An ice dam is causing water to leak into our house. I’ve injured my knee, not through anything cool like snowboarding, but because the cat slept on it wrong. The new web development class I’ve spent months preparing for has turned into a dumpster fire because of incorrect assumptions, snow days, and a fractured schedule.

I’ve been thinking about the research showing that strong friendships and social connections are an indicator of longevity. Initially it seems weird. You’d think it would be about diet, exercise, stress reduction, and things like that. But the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. When you have close friends and social connections, that sustains you. It gives you things to look forward to, people you can vent to and laugh with. You can find out about their lives, too: what they’re doing, what’s important to them. Then they can do the same for you.

Something very special happened recently, and I almost didn’t even notice it. For a few days, I had achieved the domestic trifecta: I had a full tank of gas, my fridge and pantry were stocked up, and I had a load of laundry cleaned, folded, and put away.

By November the leaves are down, grey blankets everything, and the cold starts to bite. So why is it still one of my favorite months? Part of it has to do with my birthday and the happy associations that come with it. But it goes deeper than that.

October in Southern New England is one of the most special times of year because this is when the leaves turn. Driving through the countryside or even just commuting to work means explosions of radiant color everywhere you look.

September is a month of clarity. Light and air embrace us in crisp invigoration. The sky bursts with blue and goes on forever. We’re finally unsealed from our climate-controlled, humidity-regulated boxes.

August begins my favorite quarter of the year, when summer starts to transition into fall. The nights remain long, and the heat still reminds me how wonderful air conditioning can be. School hasn’t yet started. There are still dragonflies and bumblebees dancing among the grass. This is when we hit peak cricketsong at night, and the once tiny rabbit in our yard has become a big, beautiful, and extremely fluffy adult.

I’ve just returned from the trip of a lifetime after nearly 46 hours of being awake and traveling home. Exhaustion doesn’t really capture how it feels to do such a long haul, but somehow I got through it, and it was absolutely worth it. You see, I finally had the chance to go to Cambodia and travel on The Khmer Magic Music Bus as it brought traditional Cambodian musicians into towns and villages to demonstrate their expertise. Along the way I also got to explore four different regions of the country and meet so many wonderful, talented people.