Home for the Holidays

For five short days we were all together once again, my older son having traveled from DC to come spend some time with us over the holidays. The time went too quickly. While we did have lots of fun visiting with friends from out of town, hosting a board game playing soup party, and attending a birthday party while he was here, it seems there is never enough time to do it all and before you know it, the adult son you so warmly welcomed at the train station just days before is being taken back to that same station and sent on his way.

Where did the time go? I had that same feeling as I sat gathering my special holiday napkins from the cupboard near the Yule tree when I happened to glance up at the tree and notice a handmade ornament made by my son dated December 1992. It only took me a few seconds to compute that the ornament had been made 20 years ago. It took me much longer to comprehend how 20 years had flown by in the space of what felt like just months. Where had the time gone? I began to cry thinking about how fast time goes and how it feels almost impossible to savor time enough. To slow it down and really enjoy it and know it and feel it.

Given how precious time is, I have begun to think more seriously around how I desire to spend my days and have come up with some changes I'd like to make as I move into the new year. They involve embracing yoga, meditating, writing, drawing, reading, walking a local labyrinth, eating well, journaling, spending more time in the woods and with friends and family.

My oldest son left today, my youngest leaves tomorrow for San Francisco to visit a friend. I'll have about a week to put my plans for myself into motion. Not too much time, but enough I hope to embrace a new way of being.

Winter Walk

I love getting outside this time of year and with a bit of snow falling from the sky, my husband and I headed out to walk along Crum Creek with our pup Dakota. The creek is about a 15 minute stroll from our house but we enjoyed taking many detours to give our pup a chance to run off leash. After letting her tear across the local school yard, a soccer field and the college campus, we entered the woods along the creek and settled into enjoying nature's beauty as the snow changed over to heavy rain.

I've been reading a book by Theodore Roszak called "The Voice of the Earth - An Exploration of Ecopsychology" and am finding myself getting incredibly drawn into it. The book speaks to me on many levels and I find myself contemplating it as I take in the sounds of the forest with the wind in the trees and the rain splashing upon rocks. Enjoying the music of Roszak's words and those of the forest- can't think of a better way to spend a day.