The Real New Year

This morning I opened my eyes to a dark sky looking like the inside of a stainless steel pan, trees naked of leaves and with limbs stretched out like a reaching witch’s fingers, and it was January cold. It was Monday…a new day, a new week, a new month, a new year…but it looked a lot like the old year. That is not all bad; there is comfort in the routine, in the familiar.

I put the kettle on, brewed up tea, and fed Miss Biscuit. I urged the furnace up a wee bit and she and went to my chair to read something, anything to postpone facing the real day. Finally, dug in the frig and found all the goodies for vegetable soup like my mom made. Its rich beef and tomato broth steamed up the windows. Eventually, I added healthy things like potatoes, carrots, corn, peas, okra, and kale. While it simmered, I did my exercises, deleted old files from the computer, and organized my writing folders.

The soup lunch was yummy and the whole house smelled inviting and comfy. The sun had come out, brightening the day through the windows and doors. Then I heard the weather forecast for much colder air this week and a touch of snow. Tomorrow the wind chill is to be near 10 degrees. Hum. I had postponed the post office trip, but Biscuit and I changed those plans to go while the sun was out. I had a submission that could only be mailed. So we took out and even stopped for some green bananas for the coming chilly days.

And so we are back to the way things are here….we move along like a stick thrown in the creek. I read over the holidays that time just goes on and we have no choice but to go with it. I think that is so true. And so today, I went with time and I can already feel tomorrow coming!

I hope you readers are all off to a good start on this first Monday.

"We do not think ourselves into new ways of living. We live ourselves into new ways of thinking" 

                                                                                Richard Rohr