Where was I going to find my safety zone, you might ask? I would have to say — at Skateland in New Hyde Park! There, under the swirling lights and gliding to the sounds of a carnival organ, round and round like the little mouse I would have as a pet (Madeline rotating on her little wheel in her cage) setting a rhythm that was both forceful and smooth.
How I loved my white skates with the turquoise pompoms, and in later years as an adult, the black skates with the Matisse-inspired orange rubber guards for my sharpened blades. There is in my mind’s eye, even now, maybe nothing so nice as tightening up my laces, and setting off for a spin on fresh ice on a pond or a lake.
I thought of this recently, listening to Sierra Eagleton’s heartbreaking rendering of the Joni Mitchell classic, The River. I wonder how many of us now, when faced with what we’re expected to believe is a season of good cheer, would, in our heart of hearts, like to skate away? Our expectations always fail to deliver the feeling of wonder and hope we believe we once had … though perhaps being honest, who knows if this truly as it was, or what we were expected to believe.
Holidays can be a terrible trial, repositories of years of regrets and loss and psychic pain. And so on this holiday, we will endure some version of this, but with luck we will find friends and glorious music to sustain us — and that combination may even take us to a better place.
In what will be a blink of an eye we’ll be plunged into the depths of winter. Time to embrace hygge?* I’ve been reading up on it, and I do like the spirit. If it’s winter — Embrace winter. And as Maurice Sendak’s wonderful character, would remind us,
In January
it's so nice
while slipping
on the sliding ice
to sip hot chicken soup
with rice.
Sipping once
sipping twice
sipping chicken soup
with rice. (A Book of Months by Maurice Sendak)
©2020 Kristin Nord for SeniorWomen.com
*noun ... a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being (regarded as a defining characteristic of Danish culture).
-
"why not follow the Danish example and bring more hygge into your daily life?"
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