This holiday season I've thought a lot about winter time and how we in the modern world don't listen to the signs the season is giving us. We don't live by the seasons in the way our ancestors even as recently as 100 years ago may have. With technology we tend to push through the season in a way that I don't think the way our North American and European ancestors may have. As I walked to school one morning at 7 a.m. in the cold and the dark I remember having a difficult time contemplating work that day and I couldn't help but wonder if I had lived 100 years ago if I'd even be out of the house, or even out of bed for that matter.
I've really tried to appreciate winter this year. My walks to school have been the perfect time to be aware of my surroundings and try to appreciate the beauty of winter. One morning there was a beautiful ice fog and it really made the trees look lovely. Seeing the bare trees against the November, December and January skies. The monochromatic look made by the white snow and the silvery grey skies. The calm and beauty of the city under a blanket of snow. Realizing the plants and animals are asleep as I continue to scurry about and wonder if I should take a page from their book and slow down a bit. Yes, I've really tried to listen to what winter might be trying to tell me this year.
Looking back to the beginning of November, which is what I recognize as the beginning of winter, it all seems like it's gone so fast. But when I think back to November 1st and acknowledge that the election hadn't happened yet, it all seems so long ago. It seems like an eternity when I look at it this way and think about the anxiety I was feeling those early days, and even though the election brought me some good news it seems so long ago.
As I look back a little further, say the last 4-5 years of so, I realize how my perspective is changing. The thins that used to preoccupu my thoughts were things I felt I had some influence over. Setting up a household, caree, relationship. Now that I've got those things down Im' thinking more about myself and others around me aging. I ani't got no control over that!
Helping Brenda and Irv move, and now helping mom getting ready to move indicates that more big changes are in store and that we're all just moving up in line to our entrance into the great beyond.
