GROWTH AND RENEWAL

Here we are at the very end of another year.  Time is a confusing thing – how can it be that some days take forever but when you put them all together into larger units like a year time seems to disappear in the blink of an eye?  The advice of “don’t blink” comes to mind.

It has been a different Christmas season for us with all of the festivities taking place in someone else’s house.  I have not cooked a single turkey or batch of buns, or made up a single extra bed for overnight guests.  The days have been routine and quiet.  The weather has been mild.  The days are already getting longer, something we observe with joy and relief in this household.

I am in no rush to take down the Christmas tree.  Last year we finally bought an artificial one so there are no needles falling off to make a mess or spear bare feet.  I especially like how not remembering to water it has no consequences at all, and the damage to the floor by my overwatering in the past has not gotten any worse either.  I should have gone ‘fake tree’ years ago.

The only push to get the fake tree put away is that my real house plants don’t like where they have to spend the holidays and are showing their displeasure by stopping flowering and dropping leaves.  They need their southern exposure back before they are nothing but sticks.  It won’t happen today, but soon.

It’s funny, decorating the tree is a time to look back – to open windows to past Christmases with each ornament I hang on the tree or garland I string across the deck – but putting these very same things away is a different story.  This job causes me to look forward to the coming year.

It is unusual for us to have actual plans this early on but this year we have a family wedding in Mexico right off the hop.  It’s fun to anticipate the beaches, the many family members also attending, and especially the fact that we get to share this adventure with our grandchildren.  The happy anticipation is building for us all.

Also on our 2024 agenda is a camping/music festival later on in the summer.  This is something that I’ve always wanted to check out but my significant other feels very differently.  How his daughter talked him into this for my Christmas gift boggles my mind.  She definitely has more pull than I do.

But that is only what we are doing, and it seems pretty tame compared to what is on the horizon for some of our kids and grandkids.  There is going to be significant continent hopping going on for them.

Due to work opportunities one of our families is off to South Africa for a couple years.  The grandsons are already super excited about going on safari and seeing lions and tigers and elephants.  I can’t say that I have ever dreamed of this kind of adventure but I am almost certain we will visit them there.  Thanks to our wandering kids I will only have one continent left to see.  I cannot imagine ever setting foot on Antarctica though, not even for the “we did them all!” claim to fame.

They will no sooner be gone than a grandson who left for Australia at two years old plans to return to Canada for University and we will be off to Edmonton to spend time with him and his dad as they get him settled in.  It would have been even better if his volleyball scholarship could have been offered by a closer school but Alberta is better than Sydney; we will make it work. 

I also have another plant that needs attention.  Unlike the sulking, struggling Mandevilla, my umbrella tree has only thrived in the west bedroom, taking over the space.  It started out as a tiny sprout purchased at Liboiron’s store 45 years ago and due to numerous miracles and its obvious will to live it is still with us.  It has done so well that it can no longer be squeezed through a door and the last few fronds it has put out are up against the ceiling.  The situation calls for drastic surgery.  Ironically, to save it I have to chop off and re-root the top so that it can continue to grow. 

In a way this perfectly symbolizes the faith I will put in the coming year.  I’m not sure if it’s my personality or an age factor, but I can’t imagine ‘re-rooting’ myself for life on another continent, but I recognize that these new environments encourage growth that won’t happen if the moves aren’t made.  It’s scary to cut up a thriving plant and put it in a new pot to begin again, but I’ve done it before. Actually, this is the only reason the umbrella plant still going strong.  My hope is that my metaphor fits the humans in my life. 

So, here’s to 2024!  Here’s to growth, and renewal, and since it’s a Leap year, a full 366 days of good things!