…where I expected to be on this eighth day of the New Year. I thought I would be well into the sweeping and redecorating and freshening of both the rooms of my beloved Wisteria & Sunshine and my own dear rooms of wood and plaster (dry wall, actually, but plaster sounds more romantic!) at home, stepping out into this new chapter of my life…
…instead, the little illnesses continue. This second round of the ‘flu (probably a continuation of the first) finds me on the sofa at the beach house with all of my plans on hold, notebooks unopened and unwritten in, problem after problem cropping up at my website and with my computer…
I am surrounded by blue…the water…the sky…the very stripes of the sofa I rest upon and towels I wrap my aching body in after the hot baths and showers I am grateful to have in abundance…all the while I long for the whites and browns and wintery greens of home and the leftover Christmas that awaits me there. Soon soon.
I feel like the girl in my new Christmas book…on the threshold…arms and heart full of so many gifts…a little peaky and wrapped in something warm…looking out at all that awaits…but not quite ready…
Do I sound like I am complaining? I hope not, tho’ all of the technical troubles are definitely worth a grumble or two…no, I am actually fairly peaceful about the delays and changes in my plans. I don’t know that there are any profound lessons or deep messages to be discovered as I wait…but there has been a tiny layer or two of heart-healing as I have been stuck on Mom’s couch, in her home, surrounded by her photos…and I have made tiny movements towards making the rest of January more what I hoped the beginning of it would be…and I have recognized, in the stillness and through the stumbling blocks, that my feet are on the right path, that the life and work I am in the midst of I wish to continue on with…
So I will gently close the door against the cold again, and cosy up by the window a while longer, wrapped in my coverlets and shawls, notebooks and pencils at the ready, and watch and wait and do what I can.
And perhaps it will snow.
the wild magnolia January 9, 2013 at 12:39 am
lovely post, even in illness, you show beauty.
Jenni January 9, 2013 at 1:01 am
yes, I agree with the wild magnolia, and if you do have to have the flu, a beach house sounds like a nice place to be…hope you are feeling better soon though, and can get working on your plans.
sarah January 9, 2013 at 1:28 am
I hope so much you feel better soon. I remember when my uncle died, how all his brothers and sisters came down ill afterwards – as if their bodies mourned in the same way their spirits did. Blessings and warm wishes to you.
Nancy January 9, 2013 at 1:36 pm
Thank you, Lesley. Your posts on your different blogs have been such a blessing to me these past few months. My dear m-i-l was just diagnosed with an awful disease, but we are all learning to live these last few days so fully. I do hope you feel better soon. Know that you have continued to spread peace and beauty this entire time.
My daughter brought up the bulbs she had put in the basement last fall and we are enjoying the paperwhites right now. This time passage from winter to spring is right around the corner and I can hardly wait.
From joy to joy,
Nancy
Gracie January 10, 2013 at 4:54 pm
Wow the way you write is so beautiful I can not read some of these without shedding one tasteful tear.
Grace
Deb January 11, 2013 at 8:59 pm
Beautiful post Lesley.
Your blog is such a peaceful spot to visit ♥
Feel better ~ I hope you get some snow xo