So I hold my breath for a few months, beginning when the light starts to fade in June. I know, I know, June is the only the beginning of summer but that's what happens when you've spent 49 years watching seasons arrive, then depart, friends and family members fight sickness and death and navigating through life with a body that continues to break down and betray me with it's demands for constant attention. Even though I enjoy the spoiling, seemingly endless summer days and the drowsy warmth of full sun on my face, I know that once again, the days are growing shorter, little by little.
Then comes the fall, literally. The rainbow-colored leaves blanket the trails and the skies weep, the trees shake and throw their branches against the inevitable and, I, again mourn a passing season. Though I love the fall, it's become an almost unbearably sentimental time...
And now, the cold, bleak winter days loom like hovering giants with their loud and ungainly footfalls, hiding the sun, swinging their axes to split the dried trees and spraying me with their sneezes and spittle. These are the days that greet me now and it's a battle heaving on my armor to continue my daily hike up the mountain.
The one thing I can look forward to with confidence is Winter Solstice when the sun reverses it's path and again begins its fight to return as king.
So today is that day. Today the giants retreat. Though it's still cloudy and raining, I know that I've made it once again around the bend, over the summit, through the woods of the hardest part of the year, the shortest day, the bleakest time. It's the sun-return of winter solstice and I bow my head in appreciation.
Many thanks to all of you who have touched my life, carried me through with laughter and shared some of your precious time to create the memories that will help keep me warm through the winter months.
I hope that you are able to celebrate this time with a loving family and dearest friends, surrounded by a warm hearth and home. I look forward to connecting with you, however it manifests, and continue passing the light of joy and hope to all of humanity.
Together let's celebrate a new beginning 'from this moment on.'
Happiest Winter Solstice to you and yours! Here's a wish and a song for a blessed and wonderful New Year 2015 filled with the light of joy and hope and new and renewed friendships.