Slowing Down

Jon and I have been talking about this coming week and Thanksgiving and how we want to spend our time.  We both like the idea of slowing down and taking a couple of days off.

We will be staying home, spending the holiday together on the farm.  For Thanksgiving, Jon will pick up some lobster tails from the fish store in Saratoga and I’ll make some butternut squash soup.

I feel like it’s more a state of mind and body than what we actually do.  Both of us are so dedicated and at times obsessive about our work, it’s not easy to be home and take time off.  But we’re working on that together so it has a better chance of happening.

The short cold day’s help.  It’s so much easier to be inside the farmhouse where it’s cozy and warm once it gets dark.

Poet Veronica Hallissey left a comment on my blog saying the first snow is a much-needed reminder “It brings with its arrival the gift of time to savor life where we find ourselves. Where we are is where we must be. ”

All around me the earth is getting ready for winter’s sleep.  It’s only in the past couple of years that I’ve been able to accept that this is what I need to be doing too.  For most of my life, I fought it, doing just the opposite as if I could stave off the dark and melancholy that come to me at this time of the year.

But when I let myself be where I am,  I’ve found the melancholy comes without the loneliness and longing, but with a sweetness instead.  And the long night is a comfort.