The new year has arrived, fresher than fresh, and for now, it is generally at large.
I like turning this corner and heading into the wide open spaces of a new year. I like thinking about what might lie ahead, while knowing there’s an abundance of hours, days and months, or in other words, time, to get things done. Now is when there’s a reprieve from feeling rushed. I have moments galore, so many that I can sort out all my resolutions, (really??) and short term plans, while considering what needs to be done for the future.
By spring, I will throw open the windows and let the fresh air rid the house of the dust and dullness of winter. By then, life will be in a nice rhythm, a steady cadence of daily chores and work goals, followed by quiet evenings filled with satisfaction for the things that were accomplished. I will tilt my head, sensing there is still a lull, and I will feel content, maybe even smile with the knowledge there is still plenty of time to get much more done.
By summer, resolutions that are upheld will have become steadfast habits. I will no longer be able to open up windows. At some point, I’ll hear kids splashing in the pool next door, and the cicadas…, the cicadas will be back. They will remind me of last summer, and that final evening, when Kiwi sat with us outside, her ears perked forward, the seizures created by her illness calmed by their constant noise.
Before I know it, fall and all it’s colors will transform the views I see from my office window. The changing of the air and the way the light falls throughout the house will remind me shorter days are coming. I will begin to feel the sense of time moving more quickly, I will think about where I’ve been so far and where I have yet to go. I will go back to being able to open the windows.
And then, it will happen again, like it has for the past several years. I will marvel at another year gone by, the fact that I’m decorating the house when it feels like I’ve just put everything away. I’ll sit down, where I am at this moment, and think about all that has happened this year. And…, I will be amazed once again, by the speed of life.
It’s strange the way the years have settled into a pattern, exactly the way the days used to do when we were kids and the month of August rolled around. Half the summer behind, half ahead. You sort of knew where you were. Not the worst place to be, all things considered.
Exactly right…, if I could simplify my days to be more the way it was then, I’d feel a lot more comfortable and I wouldn’t feel like I’ve entered some sort of Star Trek warp speed in life. I mean seriously, sometimes I feel like I’ve skipped days of the week, they’ve gone so fast.