I’ve been putting off packing up my Christmas tree since New Years. It’s a warm, glowing reminder of one of the happiest times of year and recalls Christmas Eve’s spent with my family, listening to my dad read us all our favorite stories. It’s a magical season full of light and laughter and I can’t wait until it comes again.
However, for now, it’s time to make room for spring and all the new life that comes with it. The deep reds and greens and sparkling silvers of winter must eventually give way for fresh colors and longer days.
Today after hanging up my usual call with my mom I perched on the edge of my sofa, phone still held loosely in one hand, with every intention of getting up to wash the dishes and tidy my apartment before calling it an early night. However, I didn’t get up. I stayed there, just as I was, for a solid ten minutes in total silence. I didn’t thumb through my phone for my Pandora Radio. I didn’t scroll through Facebook or Youtube. I didn’t flip open one of the books on my coffee table. I didn’t even start talking to myself as I’m prone to do when my apartment falls silent.
I simply sat, staring absently at the opposite wall, listening to the garbled female voices of my neighbors across the hall as they shared the latest juicy gossip. I have no idea what they were talking about but it sure sounded important. The noise of car doors slamming in the parking lot seeped through my closed windows. The world beyond my comfy little box was muffled and for the briefest of moments I actually considered crossing the hall to knock on my neighbors’ door and ask if they might have room for one more in their emphatic conversation.
This strange, quiet reflection led me to one resounding conclusion. I desperately need to have plans this weekend. I don’t mean the usual errands. I need to go be with people. I need to interact with the world beyond conference calls and grocery store check-out lines. Therefore, I am hereby reinstating date night and highly recommend it for anyone feeling similarly isolated. Go out and be in the world even if you have no one to go with and you’re just ordering for one. You’ll thank yourself later.
Life is far too short to spend it in a fog of fatigue. The army of the walking dead is among us already, drifting half asleep from one moment to the next. Don’t let the infection spread! Stay safe today and take a nap.
Winters in the mountains can be a little unpredictable. One day, it’s a perfect blue skied, sunny day and the next, it’s blizzarding sideways. But no matter what the weather, there’s always time for a hike. With the temperature settling at a whopping 12 ℉ we set out through the untouched snow for some winter fun on this particularly windy day. The best adventures are the ones that leave you with a few stories.
The icy wind stayed mostly at our backs on the way in and dissipated somewhat when we turned around due to a couple of blistered feet. As the flurrying snow subsided we were able to see down the valley to our left and enjoy the views despite still hunching into the wind with masked and goggled faces. By the time we arrived back at the car, bits of ice had nested themselves in my hair and eyelashes and we all looked like some approximation of the abominable snowman. We gratefully sipped hot chocolate and munched on cheese and crackers as we hit the road back home after a day well spent.
This is a friendly reminder to myself (and whoever else needs to hear it) to keep your eye on the prize, whatever that may be. In this time of working from the home office and with few extra curricular activities to occupy myself, my attention is so easily scattered. Even a minor crisis sends me reeling into panicked overdrive until the problem has passed. These days, I can’t even make up my mind about what to cook for dinner.
To anyone feeling this way, it’s okay. Stop, take a deep breath and settle yourself before parking in front of your computer to begin your work day. You can do this.
Make sure to start today off right with a steaming cup of your favorite breakfast blend. It’s Friday. Treat yourself and take stock of all the little everyday joys that are helping you smile today.
“All we can do is play our parts and keep each other company.” – Cissy, Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg
It’s hard to remember sometimes that we all have an important part to play, that everything happens for a reason even when we can’t fathom what that reason is. Everyone is cooped up these days and feelings are easily muddled. There’s something deeply unsatisfying about waking up, going to work and eventually signing off for the day all within the confines of the same three rooms without stepping so much as a toe outside to participate in the world. And on those rare occasions when we are graced with plans which require us to interact with society, coming home doesn’t feel half as good when we know there’s only a dark, empty living room waiting for us when we get there.
I believe that life is all about the people in it. It’s why I threw myself into the role of host, planner and general group mom among my fellow new hires when I moved to Indiana. Reaching out to people I didn’t know well and inviting them to an afternoon with silly, shy, little me was and often still is something that I find decidedly uncomfortable but I was determined to make friends in a place where I had very few acquaintances. Eventually, after months of practice, it did get easier.
Of course, now people are quiet, hunkered down in their homes while they wait for promises of safety from the virus. Everyone is skittish of getting too close while catching up over a bite at the local burger joint. Still, I’m itching for my life to return to the whirlwind pace of 2019 when the walls of my apartment felt like home base for unending possibilities instead of the boundaries to a very small world.
At some point we’ve all felt small. We’re only human after all. But maybe simply making it through our bad moments will be the consolation that someone else needs to get through theirs. We’re social creatures, hardwired with a desire for steady love and friendship. It’s never too late to call up a friend, even one you haven’t spoken to in six months. We are all here for a reason. What will your part be?
I will eventually stop talking about Christmas but not today. There’s a brief time which comes every Christmas season when all the magical things in the world wake up and life feels like the happy ending to a good book. For one week, the smell of fresh cookies trails through the house even when the oven has been turned off and the cookies carefully stowed in their tins for future munching. The finest dusting of baking flour seems to linger over the kitchen counters and the air tastes sugar sweet.
Christmas is special. Even amid the most mild winters snow falls in the mountains of Colorado to settle over the lawn like a fuzzy white comforter. Whether it be huge fluffy flakes eddying past the street lamps on Christmas Eve or the inexplicable appearance of five inches of fresh powder on Christmas morning, it always comes.
The frosty weather heralds the arrival of a few unexpected guests and this year was no different. No matter how old I get, I can’t help squealing like a six year old with a quarter from the Tooth Fairy every time I wake up to a winter wonderland. I skipped through the house to gawk at it from every window and, sure enough, tucked in the very back of the yard beneath a mesh of plum branches and bedded down in my mom’s garden napped four Christmas deer. They stayed all afternoon, occasionally standing to stretch their long necks or burying their noses in the snow in search of fallen crabapples. Even Mother Nature knows that Christmas is a time to cherish traditions.
Snowshoeing in the mountains of Colorado on a cloudless winter day is one of life’s great joys and an annual tradition in my family. This year, my mom and I bundled up and cleared our schedules for a quiet walk in the woods. Although it didn’t take long to work up a sweat along the trail, the hike was well worth the effort. I felt like I’d stepped into a snowglobe. The towering pines and aspens were perfectly frosted with a layer of snow like white icing on a gingerbread cookie. My head was on a constant swivel as we walked. I’ve always loved Colorado winters but after two years living and working in Indiana, I’ve come to a newfound appreciation for that fantastic Colorado sky. These photos have not been doctored in any way. The sky really is that blue!
Welcome back. Happy 2021! It’s a new year full of fresh possibilities. I’ve previously said that I don’t understand the need to reinvent oneself and one’s goals with the debut of another calendar year and I stand by that. I’m constantly attempting to improve myself throughout the year and don’t currently have a laundry list of 2021 must-do’s. However, I think my motto at the moment is best summed up by a quote from Austin Kleon’s book Steal Like an Artist.
Girl of Steel 