I can’t remember the last time I found myself singing and dancing, but yesterday I did that, shaking my hips and misremembering lyrics to beloved songs as I made dinner.

I can’t remember the last time I watched a new sitcom and laughed out loud, purely for my own enjoyment. But today, as I savored a simple lunch, I cackled and guffawed over the pilot episode of a new show.

I can’t remember the last time I sat through a whole movie, something I picked for no other reason than my own joy, allowing myself to laugh and weep. But last Sunday, I put my feet up, sat on the sofa, and watched Little Women, and I wept with my mom as we followed the March family’s joys and tragedies.

It’s been so long since I last lived with so little fear and anxiety.

The world is still an awful place, but I’m home, and my heart is safe.