Renaissance • Mr. Darcy + other things

December 30 • 2020

 I woke thinking it's Saturday - okay, it's Wednesday, close enough - and splashed water on my face with my glasses still on. I was daydreaming about things -mostly my plants and writing and taking the dog for a walk. And the word, renaissance which popped into my head on Monday (2 days ago). It feels good to say ~

renaissance 

After drying my glasses, I dug in the junk drawer for the measuring tape to see how much Big Vivie and Little Vivie have grown from a week ago. Big Vivie is now 22.5 inches tall. Little Vivie is 18.5" They're going to burst open into blossom sooner than I expected. 

                                                         

RENAISSANCE is a French word meaning rebirth. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary offered the word's history and etymology (in brief): French, from Middle French, rebirth from Old French, renaistre to be born again, from Latin renasci, from re + nasci to be born

So, yes, I'm thinking a kind of rebirth would be lovely as we leave this year behind. And it's always funny to me because the whole-end-of-year/new year moment is simply one day to the next, yet it has such a hold on us - I go to sleep, usually before midnight, or maybe bang some pots and pans @ midnight on the porch before crawling into my cozy bed. Sleep, dream, lose track of the days, and then wake up and it's a new day - I'm still me, nothing noticeably miraculous happened at the strike of midnight, yet most of us feel the metaphorical turning of a new page. 

We long for the new-ness. I know I do. (and still, I hold onto the familiar)

Like a good Jane Austen story (Claire and I have been deep into them on these winter nights) -Newness and familiar comforts are a marriage, a dance - take Ms. Austen's characters...the dancers barely touch, gaze into each other's eyes as they pass, hands skimming over hands, a gentle skip up the center of the dance floor, circling back under a canopy of lifted arms and hands. A constant give and take. Oh the sexual tension, dear Jane! The unrequited love, words unspoken until a bursting forth usually on the coastal cliffs, wind blowing loose hair, and someone finally speaks their truth! 

Speak up! Share your heart!

(See The Dashwood sisters, Charlotte Heywood...thank you, PBS/Netflix~ )

                   Is it any wonder I wash my face with glasses on? 

                                                                               Oh what a good laugh I had! 

This wandering mind. So many wonders to think on: plants, birds, pink clouds, dogs, children riding bikes, the lone seal swimming at the beach, love, peanut butter and honey on toast, the world of Jane Austen or James Bond? (we watched one the other night)

and then... there are the horrible things. 2020 has been full of tragic, crushing moments. This global pandemic, George Floyd, Brianna Taylor, so many names/say their names, the final days of Trump, conspiracy theories, daily horror and madness and loss. You may have suffered great loss and unwanted changes this year. 

It's so easy to lose hope. But we mustn't. Ever.

Some comfort, some Mr. Darcy, see Pride and Prejudice, who does come around to love Elizabeth but what a tough, weird nut to crack - (even if it is handsome Colin Firth) - and a glass of red wine is perhaps an answer, at least for an evening.  🍷

Comfort is necessary more than ever these days - offer it up to yourself daily.

_______________________

Here's to a renaissance when the clock strikes 12:00.

                 

                     (tomorrow night, Thursday it is!)

For you, 

for me,

for everyone, 

+ for this sweet beautiful old earth.

love always,

b xo