New Day #360

Twice a year, when the earth has tilted away from the sun as far as it can, it actually pauses before it rights itself, like it’s resting up for the next half of its trip. If you look at the mid-day sun during the week of a solstice, you’ll see that it’s at the same height in the sky each day. That’s what the word solstice means—the "sun stands still"—even though it’s actually the earth that stands still.

Like so much of the country, the northwest has definitely paused as we're literally frozen under blankets of freezing ice and snow. I went to the neigbhor's for dinner and returned to discover my footprints had disappeared, leaving just an everywhere of silver.

In honor of these natural phenomena, I decided to unplug from all communication devices. I'm sure I've gone a day without a computer and phone before, but I can't remember the last time I did. Truly, it's been years.

I refuse to be one of those people who romanticizes the past, carping about how things used to be better, but I do think it's worth examining what we've lost and what's worth preserving. And one of the consequences of electric technology is that insulates us from the rhythm of the earth.

So to pause myself while the earth did the same provided a welcome break. All was calm. All was bright.