A few of my favorite things
Lighting the candle that smells like coffee.
Transferring the bruised apples to a glass bowl.
Letting my son pick out the tulips.
Surrounding myself with a pile of poetry books.
I’ll tell you this: I know that I’m not alone in needing to pull out my favorite things in February. What Eliot said about April, I think he meant February.
We’re all in it, right?
But it is possible - and probably essential for some of us - to make a small corner of beauty in the middle of this mess. And it is a mess: the sink full of dishes, the car full of sand, the side mirror affixed by duct tape; the birthday card I hope to put in the mail on time and the card that will never make it in the mail, despite my best intentions.
And that’s pulling from the list of the mundane, what I try to explain to my kids, driving in circles re-routed from a street closure: an annoyance, an inconvenience — opposed to an actual emergency, a disaster — the daily toll of this pandemic, the continued distance, what pops up in my newsfeed before bed: the DoorDash driver who’s van was carjacked with his toddlers inside, and not being able to sleep until I know his kids are safe (his kids are safe).
So where’s the consolation this week?
It’s in this candle that smells like a long-shuttered coffee-bean shop in Brooklyn. In its inhale I am twenty-eight.
It’s in this bushel of bargain apples I didn’t realize were bruised, and cutting past the holes to discover their crisp sweetness.
It’s in these tulips my six-year-old son picked out (which match the apples) -- their pinks and yellows.
It’s in this stack of poetry books, some of them written by friends, my name even in the acknowledgements.
And that’s where we’re at today.
Find what you love and bring it extra close in this last stretch of winter.
Also. though it feels natural to turn inwards, reach out to a friend.
Sending warmth and strength on this February day.
Prayer + Action I’ve just learned about this organization, Worth Rises, whose vision inspires me:
We envision a society in which no entity or individual relies on human caging or control for their wealth, operation, or livelihood.