Today, Abe and I are alone, and we are not alone. We are opening presents alone, and we are hiking the sunrise with Lauren (distanced!). We are making frozen pizzas by ourselves, and we are kicking it in the backyard for 30 (distanced!) minutes with Kent. (He’s storing skis in our basement for a bit.) There once was a time that was not 2020, where we spent the night of Christmas Eve alone by accident, at a Mariano’s, 20 minutes to close, wondering why they turned the heat off (oh yeah, 20 minutes to close), waiting while our car charged outside and eating cheese and crackers from the grab-n-go counter, quite alone apart from a very sad person at the other end of the community-style dining table who did not want to hang, and whose presence somehow increased the loneliness, which was impressive (lol). That whole situation was pretty absurd. Today is also absurd, in its own way, but the tenor is warmer. We are taking care of ourselves much better, and of each other. :) I’ve been focusing on appreciation. Appreciation appreciation appreciation. Of everything. I defied Abe, earlier today, to find a thing that I could not appreciate. I remain triumphant. Which I appreciate. It feels good, you know? To let go of all the reasons to be critical and worried and all bound up and to just release into appreciation. And because like begets like, as like attracts like, that point of focus keeps on getting better, warming everything it touches.
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