I’ve never been much of a podcast listener, but that’s changed a lot over the past year. And is it just me, or is it that every time I turn around, someone else has started a podcast. I don’t have the brain space to listen to everything, so I’m holding it to five. This is what I listen to:

1 Listen, Learn & Love, hosted by Richard Ostler. I suppose you could say that I “have” to like this one, since I’m working on a second book spin-off of this podcast. But I loved and supported the podcast before books came into the picture. Richard talks to people about real situations that are difficult and gives them a platform to share their stories … which is pretty much my entire focus in writing and editing. The only difference is that he does the audio version and I do the written version of helping people share their experiences.

2 At Last She Said It, hosted by Cynthia Winward and Susan Hinckley. At last. Seriously. There aren’t a lot of ways for women to speak out in their own truth about the lack of voice and representation in the LDS Church, and these two women are done with that. They’re saying the stuff that hasn’t been said out loud, just whispered in corners if it’s acknowledged at all.

3 Beyond the Block, hosted by James Jones and Derek Knox. The name comes from how we refer to Latter-day Saint Sunday church meetings – they’re in a “block” of time, because we have multiple classes consecutively. Their discussion goes outside that block of time, and the block of U.S./Utah Mormon culture, frankly. U.S. Mormon culture – to be super blunt – is an odd combination of American Puritanism from the 1700s (every hymn is a slow motion dirge) and British and Scandinavian immigrants in the late 1800s (blond. The majority of Mormons in Utah are blond.) James is a Black man who was raised within the Church; Derek is a gay man who converted a few years ago.

4 The Faithful Feminists, hosted by Channing and Elise (last names not listed). More women saying their truth … the At Last podcast is more general. This one specifically follows the “Come Follow Me” scripture study curriculum. They started last year with the Book of Mormon, and have continued with the Doctrine & Covenants.

5 First Name Basis, hosted by Jasmine Bradshaw. She talks about teaching children about antiracism and anti-bias, so be ready to confront and deal with your own white fragility, if that’s a factor in your life. I also love her “untold story of…” episodes – real history, instead of the myths I’ve been taught my entire life.

— Flowers. Flowers flowers flowers. My husband doesn’t buy me cut flowers from the store very often. Instead, he gets flowers to have in pots and planter boxes on our back deck, and plants bulbs in our front yard like these. Our front flower beds usually get to Jungle status around the end of May.

— Sitting outside on my deck in the sunshine, with a book or a hand-sewing project. I don’t usually do anything with the book or sewing, besides hold it. I’m just soaking in the sun and the WARM.

— Wearing sandals. Don’t get me wrong – wool socks in the winter are AWESOME, and I love them. But it’s so refreshing to let your feet breathe after they’ve been wrapped up for so many months!

1 telework. It’s nice to have my husband in the house four days a week, even when we’re both working online and not even interacting directly.

2 masks. I know I said I didn’t like them, but I also do like them – no one got sick during the winter. Sinus infections, strep, and bronchitis are typical winter illnesses for us, and we had zero this year! Masks work! Masks every winter forever!

3 family game time. We play games a lot more than we did before. We still want to get our kids into Dominion, but Pit and Ticket to Ride are frequent options.

4 the quiet holiday season. I love Christmas parties and I don’t mind being a room mom at the elementary school to plan and run Christmas parties. But the pressure of December was substantially decreased in 2020.

5 limited attendance at church services. This seems counter-intuitive, but limited church attendance dramatically changed my one-to-one ministering, for the better. I can’t talk to people in the church foyer on Sundays and call it good – I have to actually call them on the phone, or go to their house (masked, and based on their comfort level, of course.) Yes, it takes a lot more time and pushes me out of my comfort zone, but it’s so much more effective in actually – you know – helping people feel loved. Which is the whole point.

6 the stimulus money. I will openly acknowledge that we took those checks and dumped them straight into the student loans, and paid them off. After 15 years of slogging away at them. I know you’re “not supposed” to pay off debt with the stimmy money, we’re “supposed to” just go buy lots of junk to “stimulate the economy.” But the mental freedom of no more student debt is AMAZING.

1 the disease. I didn’t like that we had to do a quarantine at all. But we needed to until scientists and doctors could figure out what this thing was and how to fight it.

2 the unhealthy amount of screen time my kids got sucked into, just to do their school work.

3 being the gatekeeper for when people could attend in-person church, because of limited numbers at services. It feels utterly wrong to tell people when they are “allowed” to go to church, even when you’re telling them YES.

4 no traveling. We had some awesome plans last summer, and we did none of them.

5 my kids fighting over individual Legos, out of the millions we have. Okay, so they do this all the time, not just during a quarantine, but it was a lot more often.

6 masks. I believe we SHOULD wear masks, and I believe they have been effective. But that doesn’t mean I actually like wearing them.

7 a woman with some dementia issues called me every week – “Can we go to church yet?” Church services hadn’t restarted yet, so I had to tell her No. And she cried every time.

8 the politicization of the whole situation. Americans are awesome at banding together for recovery efforts from natural disasters. THIS was a natural disaster – why all the lies and conspiracy theories? (Don’t answer that. I know why.)

9 the library was closed for four months.