The swinging door from our favourite fast food place brings in a rush of cold air as my girlfriends and I sit companionably sipping coffee and doing the ‘girl talk’ thing.
We do this most Saturdays, leaving the warmth of our own kitchens to sit in this somewhat drafty favorite coffee haunt, wrapping our chilled fingers around mugs of steaming hot coffee.
We share stuff. That’s what girls do! We talk. We huddle. We laugh. We cry. And, we do it together.
Then we go home and do laundry and get groceries and wish we hadn’t watched every previous season of Downton Abby because now we have to wait until Sunday to feed our addiction.
This week we talk about January and how it can be kind of a ‘blah’ month.
January blues, I believe they called it. They suggested getting out more. Dancing. One girlfriend talked about a tea party she had recently hosted complete with twin sweater sets and pearls. It was a ‘high tea’ party like they have in England.
Forming a dinner club was suggested.
I have to admit that I added nothing of value to the conversation.
The thing is I kind of like January.
For one thing, to me, January marks new beginnings. It is a time when you can take secret resolutions you have dared write on a blank sheet of paper with a sharp, new pencil filled with hope and optimism and work on making them a reality.
It is true that statistics indicate that probably by January of 2017, you will not be a better person, nor will you have lost much, if any of the weight you gained over Christmas, nor will you have quit smoking.
But, I beg to differ. To me, hope springs eternal and, anyway, it’s the journey not the destination that counts.
Another thing I love about January is the fact that there is no need to hustle and bustle around and get ready for some big event like Christmas.
Been there. Done that. Moved on!
While the holiday is truly a blessed time to celebrate the age old story of the birth of the babe in a manger and provides a wonderful splash of colour in the stark black and white landscape of winter, it is also stressful, expensive and a lot of work.
There is nothing much like that going on in January, thank goodness.
And January nights are hot chocolate, sit in front of the fire nights, where one can stare at the dancing, flickering flames and think about not very much at all.
You gotta love that.
I drive home from coffee, my mud spattered and very messy car appearing to be the only imperfect thing in a postcard perfect world. Thick white hoar frost covering the trees sparkles like a million white diamonds against the hard brilliance of a clear blue sky.
It’s so achingly beautiful, it hurts my eyes. It’s not always so, I think to myself as I recall driving home through a miserable blanket of fog the night before.
I’ve driven in worse, but I can’t really remember when. And finally when I pulled into my own yard, I literally kissed the driveway in gratitude.
Uncertain. Unpredictable. Temporary. That would be January.
And life!
Full of ups and downs, but mostly just awesome!