This new year is already full of contradictions. It was off to a good start, with a low-key gathering in our neighborhood that combined 11th hour groups for a feast of amazing food and as-many-Legos-as-they-could-touch play time for the kids. Relaxing into the return to routine felt good, with the kids’ room re-organized and nary a need for hats and gloves as the mild winter continued on. I found time for reading and knitting, nothing much, but just enough.
Then the crankier of our two cats began to fail. She rapidly sunk into painful, traumatic mewing and eventually we said goodbye. Letting her go has been more difficult than I anticipated. After all, she was always rather difficult…not easy to adapt to the many changes in our lives over the past twelve years. She hated when our babies cried, but scratched the kids as they became mobile and more interested in her. We held a ceremony at the backyard gravesite and have tried to be gentle with each other, to remember that such changes don’t come easy.
Another day off together helped and I was proud that we spent some time with a lot of other folks at the Martin Luther King, Jr memorial on Monday. The joy of the crowd, at simply having a place to celebrate that part of our history, was palpable.
If nothing else, this January will stay with us for awhile as the light is slowly returning and the cold becomes a bit more predictable.
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