A Month of
Gratitude
November
always seems to catch me by surprise. I look up one day and the trees are skeletons
and I wonder, what the heck happened to the gorgeous reds and golds that made
October a rock star among months? All those richly colored leaves … decomposing
underfoot.
Bah.
The gradual
shortening of the days – which was oh-so-romantic when fall began and we had
the luscious Harvest Moon to consider -- speeds up like one of those tricksy rides
at the fair and I feel a little dizzy and slightly sick. The year’s nearly gone
and already it’s a blur. And it’s too damned dark all of a sudden.
Maybe that’s
why November unsettles me: Not enough color. Not enough sunlight. And not
enough time. My mom died in November; it was a very, very long time ago, but it
still makes me think about how little time we get.
Zoom zoom.
The upshot
is that I get a little sad and a little grumpy. Funk is a good word for it. Whiny
is another. And 1,000 repeats of “Jingle Bell Rock” Musak-style before we even
get to eat Turkey and Dressing does nothing to pull me out of it.
I know I’m
not alone out there, because I’m not the only whiny, grouchy one around in
November. (You know who you are.)
So this year
I’ve decided to challenge myself to a little test: I bet myself $50 that if I
spent more time thinking about all the things I’m happy about, it won’t seem so
dark. We’ll see if I win.
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