Well, here we are…

…having crossed into the second month of 2021.

What do you think? Are we better off? Do we see positivity on the horizon? Are we feeling better? Healthier? Mentally more stable? Are you at work on any resolutions?

I’m just glad that I’m not toggling between CNN Live and MSNBC 24/7. Although I did appreciate and enjoy the content between 9 PM and midnight—that I had little previous exposure to.

I got my first COVID-19 vaccine innoculation this week. Whew.

I’ve been listening to more music. Mostly 60s and 70s material. Thinking about those times, and missing live music. Very much. No sense looking for 2021 Bands On Tour.

However, I’ve been taste-testing podcasts. Some that I had forgotten about.

Flowers are blooming here in the rain. Time to think about the garden. I decided to dig a 12″ deep trench, 2′ wide, 8′ long. Maybe tomorrow. I want to drop my compost bins into the ditch so the worms can get in through the slots.

Dieting. Semi-successfully. I’ve taken off my “Covid Nine” but am having a difficult time getting past it. Weighing my food and abstaining from alcohol. Boo.

Can’t resist flipping through details of wild places to visit in 2022.

Oh yeah… Definitely writing more and taking Restorative Yoga classes.

Hiking in the woods, alone with my thoughts. Lost. Not Lost. Beating back depression with a trekking pole.

Baby steps. Thumbs up! 🙂

A Message from my Past

This morning, I opened a journal that I began several years ago, and revisited the opening entry.

“Intro to Survival. The night I realized that the writing was going to be my redeemer, I dove in head first. I’ve never jumped head first into anything. I always feel like I have to explain why I go down the ladder off the boat, or push myself off the stern into the sparkling depths that others embrace with such enthusiasm.

This time I didn’t hesitate. I started typing at 10 PM. Tap tap tapping. The words flowing like the creek after a rare drenching rain. I couldn’t slow them down and I couldn’t stop them from spilling out.

Suddenly there were no more tears. Just staccato sentences. No more exclamations points. Just declarative honesty. I shut off the light and lay my head on my pillow. But it kept coming. I turned on the light and wrote some more.

At 2 AM, I closed my eyes to the moon and the stars, to the soft breeze on my cheek.

I didn’t have a nightmare that night. I didn’t even dream at all.

I got up the next day and began my life anew.”

Linda Summersea, September 8, 2012

I vividly remember that night, although I had no way of knowing where it would take me. On New Year’s Eve (12/31/2020) at 11:53 PM, I completed the final reading of the seventh and, hopefully, final draft of my childhood memoir, The Girl with the Black and Blue Doll.

I closed my laptop with a feeling of decisiveness. Of completion. And happiness at being pleased with where the journey took me.

Happy New Year! I’m looking forward to seeing what 2021 brings for all of us.

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