2025 New Year, New Beginnings

We are a week into 2025, and I’m pausing for a moment to look around and survey the landscape. Artic air has blown in, killing many plants above ground. But in the loss, there will be a renewal in spring that’s all the better as plants store their energy in roots instead of trying to thrive through the winter season. I’m opening myself up to that perspective. On New Year’s Day, I went through my husband’s closet and sorted through his clothes (he died April 2023). Some of the clothes I kept for myself to wear, which meant also going through my closet to see what I was willing to let go. The following Friday, I donated a big pile of nice threads, triggering feelings. Though most of me understands my husband is never coming back, there are pieces that do not, that struggle to accept the transitory nature of our physical existence, and some of those pieces recognized in the empty closet the reality of his death. In short, giving the clothes away was also a grieving of what I lost. But as I look into the gardens, and I see the artic air sweeping away the herbs and flowers, and I see also a metaphor of my heart. For new creation to come and hold sway, there must be a letting go of what was no matter how beautiful the flowers or the love once shared.