Ash Wednesday New Year's Week

This week has been up and down for me, as the first week of January often is.  I feel the sadness of the holidays leaving us, along with the sadness of the zooming of the years.  It's an Ash Wednesday kind of mood:  we are dust and to dust we shall return, and faster than many of us are aware.

I no longer castigate myself for all I have not accomplished.  Making it through the day to day grinding aspects of the past 2 years has seemed accomplishment enough:  the larger perilous times we seem to have tumbled into, coupled with hurricane repairs, and some family health issues.

So, let me make a list, as I often do on one of the week-end days, of moments of the week that I want to capture:

--Last night I went out to socialize with a group from work.  I think it's the first time that I've done that in this new job, which is no longer a new job, since I've had it for 2 years.  We went out to celebrate one of our colleagues who is moving to the Ft. Lauderdale campus.  It was very pleasant, which doesn't surprise me.  My campus colleagues are very pleasant, which is a good thing, since we spend so much time together.

--I got home to find my spouse in the process of killing a roof rat that had gotten in the house.  Yes, we have a house that is more sealed up than it ever has been, and this is the time we get a rat in the house?  Insert a heavy sigh here.

--I think of all those pop songs where a lover declares something along the lines of "I would catch a grenade for you"--that's all well and good, but would you do the dishes for me?  Would you vacuum so that I didn't have to do it?  Last night--would you kill a rat in the house for me?  My spouse did.  And he cleaned up the mess from having to do it.

--I have a variety of ways that I evaluate humanity.  Last night was a shining moment for my spouse.  I have no idea what I'd have done if he hadn't been here to take care of it--leave the house and spend the night with a friend?  He showed me how to work the pellet gun, but I'm pretty sure I'm not a good enough shot to hit a small critter.

--After the rat killing we transformed the Christmas wreath:

Now it's a Valentine's wreath:

--It's been a week where I've seen more friends than usual.  That's both a plus and a minus.  It's great to catch up, of course.  It makes me sad to see/feel how far flung we all are, even though we still live in the same county.  It was much easier to maintain that closeness when we all worked at the same school, where we could eat our lunches together or take time for a cup of tea or coffee.

--My new approach to weekly goals (see this blog post for details) is working well. Hurrah!  I have written 2 new poems and sent out two packets--that might not seem significant, but those weekly goals were on my list, and I did them.  Having the log/list above my writing desk helps me stay focused each day.

--I am participating in this month's spin class challenge--the one who attends the most classes gets a free spot in the Feb. spinathon.  I have a real shot at winning, so I'm going to press that advantage now, before the traveling that comes later in the month takes over.  After the eating galas of December, I can use the opportunity to burn some extra calories.  I've only gained a pound or 2, but I need to reverse that trend.

--I've been exhilarated by all of the pictures of the women House members arriving and taking oaths and holding children and comforting each other.  We've got considerably more women now than when Nancy Pelosi was last Speaker of the House (same number of women in the Senate, however).  We still don't have parity.  But we have a transgender member now, and a bisexual member.  Those firsts feel VERY important to me.  I know that previously marginalized populations bring a very important perspective when they gain some power--it doesn't always work out perfectly, but it helps society lurch towards the arcing of history towards justice that MLK talked about.