I generally don't like this time of year -- the overwhelming stress and scurrying trumps any celebratory feeling I have for the return of the light. But this year, while very far from dire, really amped up the stress and scurrying.
To wit:
- Phoebe broke two bones in her left hind paw, leading to a splint and the good drugs. It's also meant we have to go outside with her every single time and put a plastic bag on her foot every single time we go out. Oh, and weekly visits to the vet to check on it and re-splint it. She's quite chipper for being a gimp, picking it up to run on three legs when she wants to go fast and putting weight on it when she's content to be slow. But it's stressed her mommies right out.
- Ms. P's father was in the hospital for a week with abnormal heart rhythms coming from compromised lungs with added blood sugar fun. He's home now, with some intermittent home nursing care, but he doesn't like it and he'd like you to know that.
- Ms. P has had a stressful time with work, what with integrating both a new supervisor and a new team member into what is, essentially, a 3-person team. It's all going to be fine, but it's been challenging.
- The Pagan Campground, Ms. P's spiritual home for the last 12 years, has had some implosions that are leading her away. It's for the best, in the end, but there's been soul-searching and crying and processing with friends and mourning and discerning and wishing things were different. This has been, in many ways, a long time coming.
- I'm still processing many things, including identifying myself as "highly sensitive," a label that makes me want to gack but which has been helpful in articulating some patterns and experiences that will in turn help me manage things better for my own centeredness. Still, feeling like a freak? Not my favorite thing.
- I managed to save my company from some serious egg-on-the-face, and I've gotten serious kudos for that, but it stressed a lot of people out at the same time. Not always so pleasant, even if everyone is very, very grateful at the same time.
- We're planning a family baby shower for my sister, which basically consists of a weekend in which my mother and my aunts come to town and we help my sister get her apartment and life better organized for the twins. This will probably be fine, but the anticipation of it is making Ms. P and I more than slightly exhausted.
- I'm still dealing with some serious exhaustion related to my thyroid. Specialist appointment in a smidge over two weeks, thank the Goddess, because there are some days I'm getting by on force of will alone.
But all of that being true, I'm currently sitting in BIL and SIL's living room, with a napping Ms. P by my side and resting adults scattered around the place. We had a lovely, if somewhat unorthodox, Yule celebration with R, and our holiday plans involve napping, hanging out, and sitting around. Saturday is my 35th birthday, and I'm getting the symbol for the root chakra tatooed on my lower back. My supervisor is arranging for us to have a three-day work week next week. Many things are wonderful.
May you each have a lovely holiday as the light begins to return to us. May you celebrate that return in your own ways with the people you love. May you be warm and well-fed, and may you feel the warmth of your own lives.
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