It’s winter in New York. It’s cold and damp. I’m sick with what feels like a constantly-rotating Lazy Susan of illnesses and overwhelmed with all the work I am not getting done. I want to curl up in bed and hibernate until spring — or better yet, fly south for the winter.
Yesterday night I dragged my sick carcass out of the apartment and to dinner with my husband (after which I promptly wound up back in bed with a stomach ache all night). On the way, I passed a group of carolers on the street, mostly middle-aged folks wearing Santa hats and singing outside of local businesses and buildings. Between songs they laughed and joked around, before launching back into it. It was freezing and drizzling and I felt like absolute garbage, but listening to even just a minute of their song ringing down Court Street made something big and grateful well up in my heart.
A little beauty can go a long way. Offering small, lovely things — a song, a smile, a compliment, a word of encouragement, a moment of solidarity — is a gift. Receiving them is part of what is so beautiful about being a human being in the world. There’s no such thing as offering too much warmth in the cold.
xx Jill