Wherever I Am: A Week in the Life of a Slow Month

Saturday, February 11, 2017

A Week in the Life of a Slow Month

February often gets a bad rap for being the dead of winter, cold, and blah. It's been the dead of winter, often cold and blah, for us so far this month, but I am enjoying it, really savoring the time to go slow. December and January were full of parties and gatherings and international travel and jumping headlong back into life and routine. February's slower pace feels like a gift. It's not a flashy month, but I am liking it for more nights to light a fire and snuggle under a blanket with a book, drink hot coffee, and just be still without the rush and the frenzy. The days are already lengthening (as every grocery deliverer has remarked to me in the past two weeks), and spring will be here soon. It feels like one last month to be cozy and practice the hygge that has taken over the western world.

February has brought play-dates with friends and noticing that the tulip bulbs I planted in the fall are actually sending up their shoots. A miracle! It's been going to see the chemist, the GP, and finally the optician to figure out why my eye was red and itchy. Having a bright red demon eye has been a more blah part of February, but it did feel miraculous to have a thorough eye exam by the optometrist and get a helpful diagnosis. And it is feeling better even if it doesn't always look better.

February has brought lingering around the table with new friends and giving cousins a chance to FaceTime. It's brought a family writing project that I'm not sure if I'll have time to complete this month since I'm only giving half hour pockets of time to it, but nonetheless it's lots of fun. Through a character profiling exercise in which I was asked to describe a strong character, I easily wrote 3/4 of a page on Rhett Butler. Clearly my early teenage obsession with him has not cooled in the intervening years.