Starting NOW
Everyone has a voice, it's time we started using it.
This is the year, a new year to make something happen. You know that feeling that comes on in Spring. School is almost out, in the Midwest the weather starts to break and there's a sense of transition. You walk outside and don't get stopped in your tracks by icy winds or the overwhelming gray. It's... nice. You are now stopping to look at a squirrel jumping across tree branches or a little fluffy cloud moving across the bluest of blue skies.
Perhaps this is why the pandemic lockdowns didn't impact me that poorly. Where I live we're used to months of hibernating until the weather changes and you feel that sense of freedom just being able to sit outside and enjoy a nice Spring day. This year feels different somehow, like instead of just sleeping I've been cocooning. Sloughing off a few layers of the past, the expectations and losses left behind in a pile of dirty clothes you wash but only intend to donate, never to put on again. You expected a gross pile of blood, mucus, skin and dead parts of you but my stomach has been more sensitive lately and I don't want to dwell on the biological muck. I'm sticking with the boring laundry analogy because while I despise laundry, and I do mean a burning hatred hotter than the Summer sun, it's something that can be gross and overwhelming that you can restore to the most comfortable and best smelling thing on earth. The past few years have given many of us an appreciation for taking care of our space, inside and out. You may be catching on to the idea that change, taking care and rebirth are going to be my focus for this space.
Owning space isn't a natural state for my lot. Growing up in my era was a mixed bag of materialism and existential crisis, wanting things but wanting to be a nomad and a global citizen with no home because home is wherever you are. My generation have had to learn to appreciate the mundane joys and we are parenting the generation that is mastering the art of finding joy in themselves. Maybe that's why so many of my age group found bread-making to be the height of success while being at home for so long. Bread is all of it, a thing, a process and the ultimate home smell that hugs you when you walk into the kitchen. We'll get into the distinctions of age and just how that's impacting myself and those around me but for now lets just enjoy the wonderful smell analogies and improving our space, like spreading the hot, luxuriously soft newly clean blanket across your bed and laying down to envelope yourself for a much needed nap.
If you're still reading, you may be going through a transition of your own, or perhaps you find yourself being forced into change against your will. Welcome. I see you and I feel that. You are not alone. While I don't plan on offering any huge words of wisdom or ground-breaking insight, I'm happy you're here and my biggest hope is that you enjoy a sense of familiarity or connection. While I enjoy the seasons and the cycle of renewal that comes with them, the feeling that comes on isn't always comfort. Happy, sad, hot, cold, angry, hungry, it's all valid. Just like the seasons, if you continue reading, you'll feel all the things. And this is the year that I plan on sharing all of it, and a whole lot more.
