winter

We made it. Through several seasons of this. Through the longest night of the year.

And now, with the start of winter, the light - in the smallest of increments - creeps back in.

(And if those increments creep too slowly for you - as they do for me - then you can plug in a Happy Lamp as I have.)

We’re back to a stay-at-home order in San Francisco, but this time I don’t hear the Governor listing off all of the things I can’t do; I hear him suggesting what I know I absolutely need to do right now: Nothing — and I’m all ears.

On weekend afternoons, as the hours grow towards dusk, it’s not uncommon for me to call out EFF!, which stands for Enforced Family Fun! in the Ain home.

When Dan and the kids hear that cry, they know to lace up their sneakers for a mandatory stroll around the neighborhood, or a walk through Golden Gate Park, or a ride to Ocean Beach.

I’m prone to pangs of guilt if I feel I’ve let even one weekend day pass without doing something.

This winter break coincides with an ordinance to stay at home (Okay, I’ll still be strolling around my block in face-masks and taking jaunts to the ocean, but I might - if only for these next two weeks - make it optional for the other members of my household).

I feel a marvelous embrace of this stillness, in contrast to how busy and scheduled past “breaks” have been.

It’s winter. And my body, and also my mind and also my spirit need rest. I feel this so true and so deeply in the quiet that is this holiday season.

I know we’ll get back to travel and parties and dark movie theaters with tubs of warm popcorn.

But, for now, I am taking consolation in this mandatory pause.

Wishing you all warmth and rest over these last days of December 2020.

Prayer + Action Long Live Love Foundation