january

Snap A Dozen Days

kitchen window view, wheelchair height

January

January is about the "mini-hibernation". It seems that all throughout November and December, I am just dying to tuck myself into a warm cozy spot, but that I am denied. Too many holiday obligations, and the warm-cozy thing just does not happen. So do my best to find it in January. This year's January finds me not only making the time for lounging, but it also has me better understanding the importance and joy of it.

January is about the "little breather". I have always felt the wind rushing out of the sails in January, but I was most aware of it during the years I was catering professionally. There was constant insanity from October's end until New Year's Day, with an exhausted heroic push right there at the finish line. January's arrival meant I could finally regroup and reorganize the chaos. It also frequently meant that I could finally get sick, as I'd been somehow magically holding it all together and fending off a cold those last couple of weeks. I am no longer catering, but once January hit this year, I almost instinctively started doing a fair amount of regrouping and reorganizing on the home front. It must just be the season.

January is about noticing the return of the sun and the lengthening days. In January it almost feels like a daily change to me (well, scientifically it is...I'm just very aware of it right after the winter's solstice, moreso than other times of the year). I'm sure that contributiing to this is the fact that half of the days in January here have cloud cover. It reminds me of when you dont see a little baby for a few weeks and then the next time you do, they look like an entirely different kid.

January is about wishing I'd gotten on top of planning something for my birthday. I love birthday celebrations. And not just my own. My birthday is the first week of February. I usually think about this fact in December, but things are too hectic for me to do more than think about it right then, so I tell myself I'll get right on it once the holidays are over. January is the month I realize that I should have started planning earlier. In my early 20's, whipping up an event on short notice was never a problem. That is not the case anymore. Aside from my own schedule being too busy and too complicated, the circle of friends I have often need several week's advance notice for just about anything. The last decade or so of birthdays have sort of felt like when you get all excited to shoot off a firecracker and you light it and it sparkles a bit and you hold your breath and...and it fizzzes and goes out.

January is about choreography. We have a tradition in the Sabah Ensemble, established by my teacher, the late Jamie Miller. If we want to, we can perform for our birthdays. Often people will choreograph a solo and perform it at the end of the dance class nearest their birthday. For the same reason as above, January comes, and I'm often wishing I had started something sooner. This year I really wanted to do something. I had plenty of time, had music chosen, and a pretty strong creative vision for the choreography. But the burn situation knocked out several weeks of crucial rehearsal time. I'm still working on something, and my plan is to present it a couple weeks late....and I'll just sort of warp time and still call it a birthday dance. Or something. LOL

January is about cool crisp air, warm scarves, extra blankets, longer days, soup, deep breaths, and creativity brewing in the cave.