The In-between Time.

Living each day, waiting for the New Year, yet... enjoying this sort of in-between time. This is really the one time of year when one can let everything go, because so many businesses are not doing business, so much energy is spent on some kind of frantic need to celebrate and it may just be too counterproductive to invest too much time in job-search. Better to wait until next Monday. There it is. The in-between time.

Perhaps this is meant as a time to re-evaluate. I choose to use the time to spend time. Mostly with my husband. I cook and shop and try to listen. We talk. (He listens really well.) We play games and watch Netflix (greatest thing ever...) and rent the occasional recent movie. ("UP" is fantastic. Much better than I expected.)

The in-between time. I find I am so grateful to my friends who've called or contacted me recently and am very disappointed in those who have not. Perhaps we are not as close as I'd imagined. Perhaps some of them are just too busy. I find that I forgive them, or make excuses, or say to myself that I have not called either, but either or any way, my mouth turns down.

The in-between time. We've bought a "router." Never understood what that little inexpensive piece of equipment could do! My husband and I can both be on line separately, at the same time! Genius. Or, I can get streaming video while he completes his traffic school. I don't care what all the Luddites say, I love technology. (I just this second used the edit button to "undo" something I'd in-inadvertently done...) I think it makes our world better. It certainly allows me to spell and rewrite easily. For me all this is about communication and the tech makes my life a little easier.

The in-between time. The time designed for families. It works. It is and it does. It may be hard, but it is always always worth it.

We have just a few more days of in-between time. A few more days before we head into a new year full of possibilities. A few more days of looking back. A few more days of leisure and self-absorption. (Love this.. spent several minutes trying to look up absorbtion...seemed like the way it should be spelt. I was wrong and although the dictionary couldn't help me, spell check did... Amazing. Okay. Really! My students have NO excuse! LOL. Oh, and my sister-in-law thinks LOL stands for "lots of love." Love that! )

The in-between time gives some of us time to think these random thoughts. To spend time with those we love, to ponder, to give, to watch old episodes of Star Trek (..pick Janeway or Kirk or Picard...) To kiss really and to love truly.

Disconcerting this in-between time. Disconcerting but ultimately healing. We do all look to the New Year together. We all have that in common, and we all hope together that 2010 will be better.

Happy New Year! Let the balloons fly.