Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom (And Whimsy)
Posted on November 8, 2023 under Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom with no comments yet
Many days, I feel like I’m going round in circles.
“All my life’s a circle,
But I can’t tell you why,
Season’s spinning round again,
The years keep rollin’ by.
All My Life’s a Circle – Harry Chapin
Daylight saving time slipped out the back door last Sunday in the wee hours of the morning. Sometimes, it is very difficult to get rid of an unwanted guest, but daylight savings is not one of them. We treasure the lengthening days of spring and summer. When daylight savings ends, someone slams the door and turns off the lights for the better part of six months.
Harry had it spot on. The seasons are spinning around again… and again. We have scarcely finished the last miniature Coffee Crisp left over from Halloween, when in the headlights, the “C” word is already pulsating. I saw a load of Christmas trees heading down Hawthorne Street last week (late October) and already I am dreading the first rendition of The Little Drummer Boy.
Spring. Summer. Fall. Darkness.
Fear not. I am not about to trash either Christmas or lament the shortening of the days. I admit that the joy of “Christmas past” is in the rear-view mirror. I don’t think that I have ever been accused of being curmudgeonly, but Christmas has lost a lot of its mojo for this septuagenarian. I will once again put up my tiny tabletop ceramic tree with its multi-colored lights, a few days before Christmas.
I am very fortunate in many ways. I don’t suffer from SAD – Seasonal Affective Disorder. I do sympathize with folks who suffer forms of depression during the dark days of winter. There is no clear cause of SAD. Less sunlight and shorter days are thought to be linked to a chemical change in the brain. In my case, this is certainly not the case for if it was, I would never have travelled to the Arctic to spend parts of three school years.
This piece is really about Chapin’s line about the seasons “spinning round again”. I know that I have gone down this rabbit hole more than once. I must be getting old and cranky (old for sure!) but I’m getting tired of hackneyed expressions like “rabbit hole”. It seems like the entire population of the earth is now burrowing underground.
At last count, there were still 60 seconds in a minute; 60 minutes in an hour; 24 hours a day and 365 days a year except 2024, which is a leap year. Yes. There will be a February 29th in 2024. I’m sure you’re delighted with this intel so that you can now start to plan your Leap Year party. Why is it that we can never seem content with the present? We’re constantly looking ahead to the next event on the calendar. I have a theory that living in the present may slow down the pace of life. However, I don’t believe in my own theory for a nanosecond. I live each day as it comes but those days just seem to be coming faster and faster.
As the darkness settles in, let’s not forget that the sun will continue to shine (literally and metaphorically as these are dark times).
And let us not forget those who made the supreme sacrifice during wars and conflicts with Remembrance Day just around the corner.
“Time, flowing like a river,
Time, beckoning me,
Who knows when we shall meet again, if ever,
But time, keeps flowing like a river,
To the sea.”
Time – The Alan Parsons Project
Have a great weekend
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