We are moving into the time of Advent, the darkest time of the year. On Halloween, we put our gardens to bed with the guardians we carve out of pumpkins and lose out the time of the year for growth. There is a long still time before the seed catalogs come out. The first half of this six week stretch is a deep breathing of stillness, usually punctuated by some cold, bright nights. We burrow in. And then, after Thanksgiving, we move towards waiting for the return of the light. I often use this time for specific daily actions. One year, I took an extra step for preventing climate change and wrote about it. Another year I used the Beat idea “Be in Love with Yr Life" and remembered everything I love about my life here in this corner of the world.
This year, I am thinking about gratitude. Despite some rough patches is year, I am so much to be grateful for in my life. Thinking about something every day—and writing it down—will help my focus on all of the light in my life and fight the darkness.
December 1: My physical therapist, Maggie, who, in the course of several months, pulled all of the nerves and muscles that had jammed together when I fell on the ice apart, allowing me to walk fast and confident, again.
December 2: Unity Shelter, which works, with great grace and focus, to shelter the most vulnerable in our community. It is a constant battle to survive.
December 3: Local cinema that shows Monty Python and the Holy Grail on rainy Sunday afternoons.
December 4: I am grateful, tonight, for community-- for everyone who shows up at council meetings to speak, observe, and be present.
December 5: I am grateful for...Snapchat, which allows students to see where their friends are and then call them and put them on speakerphone so that they can explain that they were too tired to come to English class.
December 8: I am grateful for SAFE Corvallis happy hour(s) when there are so many bike helmets they spread onto neighboring tables until the very patient waiter asks us to move them.
December 9: I am grateful for our Lucia Day ritual-- wake up at 6:30 to bake the rolls, then meet friends at Bald Hill to break bread and sip cocoa before climbing the muddy trail up to the view over our beloved valley. Rain, snow, sun-- this Saturday, we are there.
December 10: I am grateful for our crockpot which cooks the best beans ever while we sleep or go for a hike.
December 11: I am grateful for our local farmers, who feed us even in the middle of winter.
December 12:I am grateful for fire drills on sunny afternoons, even when the reason we are standing out there forever is because one of MY students did not listen at the beginning of class when I told them where to gather, wandered off, and had to be called on his phone and talked in to the correct location.
December 13: I am grateful for small holiday rituals on dank nights: winter lights on porches, small trees and menorahs in windows, and latkes for dinner.
December 14: I am grateful for Ilene McClelland, who organizes the It's Lit bike ride every year, when we light up our bikes and ride around the neighborhoods.
December 15: I am grateful for Winter Break.
December 16: I am grateful for Government Corner, Sat. morning at the public library. You never know who will show up to talk with you so it is a pretty perfect example of Democracy in action.
