In the shadows bits of snow dwindle in the cool grass and on rooftop eaves, the lingering evidence of Georgia's first white Christmas in over a hundred years. Sunset light glistens brilliantly off the crystal clear water droplets that fall from the trees as the snow melts. The usually packed streets are now haphazardly dotted with meandering cars, their drivers contented to coast along and gaze at the shimmering wonderland before them. In these days after Christmas, the world moves a bit slower. It's almost as if the winter chill has held holiday joy in suspension, filling the air with cozy satisfaction and mysterious beauty. People are nestling a little deeper into their vacations, a little closer to one another. This afternoon the whole of this little suburb seems to be swaying in melodious rapture. And somewhere in that tiny microcosm, I sit lost in an even tinier microcosm of my own.
This particular afternoon, I find myself lost in a familiar sensation. There's something about sunsets that just set me into a dreamy sort of trance. I am so easily caught up in those around me, in the air, in the way the light shines. I have to be careful when driving to not succumb to inattention and the temptation to lazily stare off towards the horizon. Today, though, I'm sitting in my room, free to fully give in to these pensive, whimsical longings. The pull is especially strong now, too. So much to think about. So much to remember, to consider. Another year is drawing to a close, an ending that at once closes many sentimental chapters and opens many exciting more in my life. My head and heart swim with simultaneous glee and melancholy.
Endings are always bittersweet. The promise of the future almost never escapes the twinge of longing to hold on to parts of the past. I am a particularly reflective person, and could very easily live my life in retrospect and imagination. I have to be careful to force myself into the present sometimes, to make sure I have something interesting on which to reflect later. But at this time of year, I find it apropos to indulge myself. The sunset feels a little mournful this afternoon as the weight of the year's end is a little heavier as it looms nearer. My thoughts center on my childhood and school friends, old shenanigans and antics, outgrown simplicity and almost forgotten favorites. The past several months have been a-buzz with excitement and plans for the new year, so much so that I'd almost entirely forgotten to consider what was being retired in order to make way for the new. Undoubtedly, I am thrilled to the core for the bounty of blessings and adventures this next year is to bring, but this afternoon my heart aches a little for what is lost.
Ah, but this space wasn't created to bemoan past treasures, rather it is to be a place to celebrate each day. This next year, 2011, I am committing to a daunting task - take a picture and write a blog every day, January 1st to December 31st. This space was created to contain those efforts and to share them with whomever may choose to enjoy them. I don't claim to be the most interesting woman in the world (or anything even close, for that matter), or to live the most elaborately extravagant life, so if that's what you stumbled here searching for, turn back now! This journey isn't intended to be rife with riveting dramas, rather it is one of exploration of life, self, and this crazy world around me. I wont always have something interesting to say. I'll probably document a fair number of horribly boring things. But that's my life - a mixed bag of the fascinating and mundane, the intricate and the plain. So for those of you looking to peruse the musings and snapshots of an unrefined girl trying to figure out this thing called life, welcome!
Here's to a year fully lived and (mostly) remembered.
