I don't like November. I don't like March. I don't find that ever changing. I've been distracted, and to some extent disconnected. I admit it, even though I don't like it and it feels uncomfortable. Work has been hectic (and stressful--but not in a debilitating way). I've been trying to navigate a relationship that came back around briefly (and I put more effort into it than it was worth). I have been swamped with school work and projects and having a lot on my plate to complete before the end of the semester. And if I'm completely honest, it's the first time in a long, long, long time that I haven't felt her all around. Well, what does that mean??

There are many things that I have chosen to take a hiatus from through the end of the year: church, dating, Facebook...Have I somehow also lumped her in with the others? In no way has that been my intention. The last few years have been so strange, I can't imagine what she would have been like through this whole pandemic, whether at home and thriving, or in her care facility just getting by. So for that, I am thankful...that this hasn't been her experience.

I'm afraid she is slipping through my fingers, little by little. I'm afraid my job, and my friends, and my dating antics, and my school work are taking over all of my brain power and pushing her out. November is a heavy month. And it feels heavy because: there is endless testing for our students, it's cold and rainy, people are navigating (yet again) what the holidays and their traditions look like in this pandemic world, I'm navigating what my faith and faith community looks like or needs to look like, I'm figuring out relationships or the absence of relationship and if/how I'm okay with that. It's a lot. It's heavy. But the usually heaviness of her birthday right around the corner hasn't hit me. I haven't embodied that like the previous years. And I'm not sure if I'm sad and appalled by this, or if some how I'm grateful and relieved by it. Nevertheless, it is strange.

Perhaps I just need to do a a full life assessment/evaluation. Am I where I want to be? With so much growth in the last two years, where do I want to head next? What should my focus be? How do I want to keep her central to me? And what else takes center stage along with that? I'm not sure I know any of those answers in this moment. And that is okay. I am more and more okay with the unknown. But I also need to have a skeleton of a plan. And so, it's time to get to work, dig deep, discern. It's time to bloom.

Credit: The Avett Brothers