Seasons' Transitions

Today was in the high 70's, I wore shorts, which is wild for Nov 9th. I walked to the lake and spent several hours enjoying the weather since tomorrow is suppose to be warm but rainy and Wednesday is supposed to get cold again. I read, did yoga, and listened to a podcast all at the lake. I tried to catch the feeling of fully appreciating the weather we have had the past week or so, though it always feels like I could have done more somehow. I was also reminded of the different seasons which will be turning. We are moving quickly into the fall/winter holiday season. 

We are also quickly moving into a new political season. It was so nice to hear Biden do a COVID press conference and feel calmer and better when it was over. Not what I have felt for the past 4 years. As I have said before I was more invested in this election season than any election season before. Some of it was an investment of attention, money, and energy and some was just more invested in the outcome. 

While I had been stressed about the election for a long period of time, I did have it as something in the future to focus on. Now it is over and some things have changed and some things remain but I am aware in this moment I need to find something else to have in the future to focus on. I am in the middle of experiencing the metaphoric "Sunday after Easter", or "Day after the theater show ends". 

Knowing it will soon turn cold again and I will be spending most of my time inside my room, because there are few places I want to go with COVID still being and issue, is challenging. A taste of freedom makes the idea of being holed up inside feel that much heavier. I know I will do fine, and find lots of things to stay busy, reading, shows online, courses ... but honestly I am simply not looking forward to it.

Echoing what others have said in the context of the election this is also a bittersweet time. A time of celebration and a time of something else. We won but the work goes on. We won but we are not done. We won but there is no magic wand that will solve all our institutional issues in a blink of an eye. (And I knew that would be the case but a tiny bit of me hoped if we did the work and won a miracle would occur and everything would be all better)

In the end this line from A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens feels especially relevant. (Though the quote really can be used to describe almost absolutely any time period)

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”