Quiet

Dear Ones, how are you? If you are in the Northern hemisphere, how are you doing with the time change and the shorter, darker days? What is bringing you joy?

Today’s draft comes from contemplation of the uncovered sliver of window and the so-called quiet of late morning. This draft feels the most unfinished of any draft I’ve sent out for months, which I am choosing to accept as part of this hibernating part of the year. Things come in dreams, unformed, just enough to find again when the world thaws.

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedThe gift of the winter is Quiet. And so here I am, waiting for the Quiet.Between the gentle spurts of the cat's water fountain,the late morning traffic, the neighbor's cat crying in empty rooms --somewhere in there is Quiet.I hold it like the tail of a summer squirrel:soft, comforting, and quickly drawn away. Layers of my inner ear open to receive the rarest gift of no noise.