In Between Time

In search of a decent cup of coffee, we turn from Thanksgiving Day leftovers to the promise of a happy end of year holiday season. This has been a special time since I spent a lonely few weeks after arriving in Mainz, Germany in mid-December 1976. Through the years the loneliness diminished. Part of this month is reflection on the immediate year past and planning for the next 12 months. It is a time to slow down and enter into a tribal time.

20 of 25 copies of my book are out among early readers. I need to conserve financial resources, so that will be it for now. The next decisions are what to do next: print more, publish it on various on-demand platforms, or take another whack at editing. I need to reserve a few copies until I make a decision. Finishing the book was the major accomplishment, so I am in no hurry to take next steps.

I cleared off a 42″ x 31″ space for a memoir writing table. On here, I will go through boxes of artifacts and store items in immediate use in the writing project. It may not be enough space, yet it will serve the purpose for now. The next memoir task is to re-write my outline and go through the manuscript. I sense many of the 65,000 words already written need revision. If I’m lucky, I can finish some of that work before the new year.

Our family is scattered about this December. My spouse is helping her sister recover from surgery, our child has their own life in Illinois, and I am in the Grove holding down the fort: conserving energy, eating out of the pantry, and doing things to improve my health.

I ordered tomato and cucumber seeds. The best varieties sell out, so I want to get them delivered early. There are plenty of cruciferous vegetable seeds leftover from last year. I’m not sure what else I need. Because 2024 was a punk year for gardening, there is more prep work than usual to get ready for spring planting in the ground. I’ll place another seed order once my December pension payment hits the bank account the fourth week of the month.

The rest of today is going through files, papers, and magazines stacked in my physical inbox. I suspect some things were missed. That’s par for the course with so much going on in this life. The snow makes it feel like winter, yet it is not that. The lake is freezing over, yet tomorrow ambient temperatures are forecast in the 40s. One day at a time while living in Big Grove Township.