This morning I am at my desk looking at the blank 2019 calendars around our office, most of them unsolicited (organizations wanting donations) but some are gifts. On the wall hangs the large family photo calendar which Hayden puts together annually to give to us. The photos this month are of Austin playing in the snow last January. Having just seen him at Christmas, I notice how he’s changed now that he is almost 5. He’s taller, lost most of his “baby look”, but kept his blonde curls.
On my typing stand is the 2019 Motto calendar which my Quaker college friend, Terrie, sends me as a gift each January. The size of a large index card, each month has four sayings from famous people as well as excerpts the Bible, Koran, Asian poets and philosophers. When it arrived in the mail a few days ago the first quote caught my attention.
We are reminded that in the fleeting time we have on this Earth, what matters is not wealth or status or power or fame, but rather how well we have loved and what small part we have played in making the lives of other people better. Barack Obama (1962 - ) USA
Not only does this resonate in our country right now, but comes just as I finished reading Michelle Obama’s memoir, “Becoming”. I lived with her story for a week reading it with interest and admiration for how well it is written. Mostly I was struck by her journey from childhood to being the smart, strong adult woman that she is. She learned to make life decisions based on what she believes in. The things that really matter.
In the first slot of the paper filer, I see the 2019 Cartoon Calendar from the New Yorker with a bright yellow cover and a drawing of a music conductor in black tails with an upside down grand piano above him. It is inviting when I am in need of looking at the lighter side of life. A reminder that humor is essential. The January page appropriately is a cartoon about a CrossFit gym which this time of year is where Americans are spending more time.
On top of a stack of travel papers in front of me is The Nature Conservancy calendar with close-up color photos of rare birds, marine life, African wildlife, and various habitats like the Arizona desert, the Colorado Rockies, and Walden Pond in Massachusetts in the winter. It is open to the month of May where the photograph is a sea of lilac colored verbena flowers from the Hill Country in Texas. It reminds me that spring always comes…eventually… even though the view from my office picture window today is of denuded brown trees. Only the evergreens continue to lend color to the landscape in January.
I have started writing in details on the Conservancy calendar page of a partially booked spring trip to Brittany, France and Paris. May 2nd– Leave for Paris, May 3rd– Arrive Paris and overnight in hotel, May 4th– take train from Gare Montparnasse to Paimpol to start Inntravel walking trip, May 11th– leave for Dinan to spend two nights, May 13th- arrive Paris , May 17th– leave Paris for home.
I have started writing in details on the Conservancy calendar page of a partially booked spring trip to Brittany, France and Paris. May 2nd– Leave for Paris, May 3rd– Arrive Paris and overnight in hotel, May 4th– take train from Gare Montparnasse to Paimpol to start Inntravel walking trip, May 11th– leave for Dinan to spend two nights, May 13th- arrive Paris , May 17th– leave Paris for home.
It feels good to be putting something down to look forward to and think about…even though not till May.
On Art’s desk opposite mine I can see the 2019 David Levine “Enlightenment” Calendar from the New York Review of Books. It has amusing caricatures of lofty people such as Spinoza, Francis Bacon, Margaret Fuller, and John Locke. Alongside this sophistication is the “Paws on a Mission” 2019 Calendar published by the Asheville Mission Hospital advertising the pet health program. Each page has a colored photo of a different breed of dog resting happily with a kind expression on his or her face. How do they get these dogs to pose so lovingly, I wonder? Both calendars are unused so far.
Downstairs we have a “working” engagement calendar that is where we write reminders of appointments, dates to remember – “Pay Taxes” or “Change Filter” “Get oil change”. Neither one of us has found keeping an online calendar or using the IPhone comfortable. I recognize that this is a generational “thing” and comes from the inability to fully trust any piece of information that is not on paper.
The blank calendars make me pause to reflect on a new year and the image of “wiping the slate clean”. All my life I lived more by the academic or seasonal calendar where it feels like new resolves and plans should come in the fall of each year. My resolve in January is not to fill all those blank calendars but to aspire each day to do one meaningful activity. Writing and exercise are the two that are top of my list. I began this blog with great intent in late 2013 but it’s only been this past year or two that I have made myself post more often and thus, felt like my day or half day at my computer was well spent and fun. Exercise makes me see the world in a positive light and opens possibilities and creative ideas. I have my best thoughts while on a long hike or swimming laps. Keeping up with good health is now ingrained forever.
New calendars in January remind me to be mindful… paying attention to how I spend my time and tuning in to what brings me pleasure. After all, at my age, I have earned the freedom to do this.
