You know what I’m talking about. This poor, confused week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. It has identity issues. It’s like a pre-teen, trying to figure out who she is while she stares at her big sister’s hand-me-downs.
This week has no idea whether it’s Christmas-time or New Year’s-time. We don’t know whether to say Merry Christmas or Happy New Year or something in-between. We’re still basking in the glow of Christmas, still listening to Christmas music. And yet, we know the new year is flying toward us.
Like what, we’re supposed to throw off the Christmas merriment we’ve been anticipating for the past two months and embrace the whole “new year, new start” perspective? Transition from holiday treats and indulgences to new year’s resolutions within one week? I’m pretty sure that’s not healthy. (more…)
I went for a hike on Sunday. I needed to get away, to take to the woods. I don’t know whether it’s a writer thing, or an introvert thing, or what, but like Robert Frost, I sometimes find myself with the need to take to the woods and bask in the silence of trees.
I’ve stopped watching the news, with all the noise and the opinions and the speculation. I did, though, read about the victims. I always do, when something so terrible happens. Because I want to think of them as people, not as symptoms of some larger, societal problem or as tools to promote an agenda. Sometimes I think every time someone reframes the story, the people get lost.
I wanted to acknowledge them as individuals, as human beings with hopes and dreams. A woman whose boyfriend was about to propose. A little boy who wanted to be a paleontologist. A little girl who loved horses. Teachers who put themselves between a gunman and their students. Children who still believed in Santa. Brothers, sisters, daughters, sons. (more…)