Calendar Girl

My brain usually has several calendars running simultaneously--there's the chronological calendar, of course.  Today the calendar says October 4, and the Currier and Ives part of my brain thinks pumpkins and hay rides.  Yet I go out the door, and it's humid and warm, although not as warm as it was a month ago.

I often have the calendar of feast days running in my head too.  Today is the feast day of Saint Francis.  We often remember him for his kindness to animals, but he was so much more, with his kindness to lepers and his opposition to the Crusades and his founding of 2 religious orders which are still successful today.  For more on Saint Francis, see this post on my theology blog.

And then, there's the calendar of creative submissions--which journal/press is accepting what types of manuscripts this month?  I had been doing well with this calendar, but my submission schedule has fallen apart in the last few months--which I expected, since I was travelling and the school term was starting again.

And this week, there's the hurricane calendar.  I have been watching the path of hurricane Matthew shift slightly west with each update that changes the forecast track (which happens only with the updates that come at 5 and 11).  I am now in the cone of possibility, which in some ways isn't a surprise but still makes me feel sick.

Let me focus on what I can affect.  Let me turn my attention to a morning walk and some creative time before I go to work.

Throughout today, if I can wrest my attention from this hurricane, let me focus on Saint Francis and his quest to live a life true to his values.  I can't decide which impresses me more, the insistence on an authentic life, even if it cost him everything or his fierce commitment to community.

Let me remember that if someone like Francis could do it, we all have hope.