Peppers, onions, and tomatoes simmering on the wood stove. I’m cooking a pasta sauce from scratch for the first time in forever. Shoveling the sidewalk to make room for the dog to go out, getting wood from the shed…repeatedly.  This work clears away the final cobwebs of an old cubicle existence and I am seeing more clearly. For me, this is therapy, this is living, this is bringing meaning back to me on a foundational and fundamental level. I didn’t realize, until today, how much I am rebuilding inside of myself as I take these actions to cook, clean and plan for this new year and situation.

As I open every drawer and cupboard and look at each item – every single pen, pencil, utensil, canning jar, mysterious piece of something we don’t own anymore, owners manuals for things I don’t remember owning – you know, everything. I am just sorting them by uses. Gardening, tools, canning, cooking, crafting, music, writing, home and family records, all of it. And as I do, I throw away the trash, pile up the donations and realize what a full and amazing life I have lived and am living! It’s a gift to have a huge family, neighbors near, and friends close by and scattered all over the place.  What a treasure I am receiving now in the time that has presented itself to me. To do as I please. For possibly the first time ever…

It is no bad thing to celebrate a simple life.
~Tolkein