Snow days for Grown-ups
/Snow Days or Time-out for Grown-ups
The reported excitement of children who were snowed out from attending school these last few days, reminded me that all of us need an occasional surprise time-out from the regular responsibilities and duties that we carry. A pocket-holiday akin to the tiny pocket-parks that have developed in cities. Tiny but hugely appreciated. Renewing.
Snow days
Years back, remembering how gleeful I was on the rare times in Northern Michigan when we had an unexpected day free, and recalling clearly how wildly happy my daughter Meg was on those times when Washington DC closed down for snow, I wrote a poem about how that unexpected change in plans feels. A day completely free of what I thought would fill it.
Snow days
There isn’t anything
More full of life and joy
Than one’s own child
Who doesn’t have
To go to school
Because of snow.
The snowstorms
Are an unexpected gift,
A time to snuggle
In a chair before a fire,
A time to play and laugh
And soak the laziness
Into our bones,
A time to be
Exceedingly undone.
For grown-ups such free days
Are rare. Our lives are focused by
The drumbeat of our work,
The cadence of impatient
Fingers on a desk.
Perhaps my child’s lesson
Is one I need to learn—
There isn’t anything
More full of
Joy and fun,
Than one entire day
That’s full of snow
And free of everything
I thought was life.
Judy Brown (The Sea Accepts All Rivers)
But snow-days are not the only way to settle into a “time-out”.
Sometimes signing up for a retreat, or an out-of-the-way and unusual learning experience can do the same thing for us.
And for any of us who have a love of poetry, carry a special poem with us for its guidance and inspiration, just such a time-out is on the horizon.
Take a look at the upcoming Kirkridge program, BREAD FOR THE JOURNEY: A CELEBRATION OF POETRY AND THE HUMAN SPIRIT. It could be that welcomed break you need. The "time-out" for the human spirit.
"As we seek to live more lyrical and balanced lives, this Celebration/retreat will explore how reading and writing poetry can help us live more mindfully. It will also help us remember that poetry can open us to the surprising news which comes from living and listening genuinely."