Happy New Year! I hope you all had a lovely holiday filled with good health and good company.
I struggle with what to write about as we all take another journey around the sun. As a human on this planet during this time, I have been witness to a lot of suffering this year. And as a human on this planet during this time, bearing witness to this suffering makes me sad, living in a divided country makes me sad, seeing the people I love lose loves makes me sad.
But I cannot call this the worst year ever. That is not fair to those who really have had the worst year ever and it is not fair to my worst years. Having lived a series of unfortunate events, I think it’s important to recognize when you are fortunate, move a step over and give grace to those who really need some grace.
And on January 1, 2021 at 12:01, the world did not change. The issues we faced at 11:59 are still around, stinking up the place and making us ask “well it’s a New Year, now what?”
Now What?
We still have a road ahead of us my friends. Our reserves are empty, our capacity for compassion and empathy maybe running low and my mask has taken on a nasty stench. Yes, I know I can hand wash it….but I am amazing at how foul my breath can be.
We still have to dig deep.
I started this pandemic by writing down my gratitudes and dreams. This lasted until the Fall. I am behind on my gratitudes. Yes I am grateful. But during the election and as COVID numbers continued to rise, my gratitudes felt inauthentic.
Today I was listening to This American Life on NPR. They were interviewing Ross Gay; poet, professor and author of a collection of essays called “The Book of Delights”. For one year, Ross wrote daily essays about things that delighted him. He told an amazing story about flying with a baby tomato plant and the joy it brought him. Listening to his baby tomato plant story brought me a little joy.
365 days of delight. One thing. Everyday. That delights you.
I have struggled with the purpose of my blog. I talk a lot about grief, resilency, politics. Lets talk about Delights.
Can I do 365 days of Delights? It’s a lot of writing so I might rely on you, my fellow writers and articulate people. Can we fill this blog with 365 days of tiny events that delight us?
I cant think of a better challenge.
We start tomorrow š
Samsmom 