First Days

I don't always get the chance, but I like to post on the first day of the month. There are so many things I think about at the debut of a new calendar month, many of them simply pedestrian, some of the others, not. The dog needs to get his heart worm pill on the first day of the month, and I should change the filter in the furnace and the room freshener in the family room. There is a reason I put mundane tasks like that on day number 1. It is easier for me to remember to do them.

But I always seem to think that once we turn over that calendar page, we have the option of starting over. You can say that I am old school, but I still rely on my paper calendars. Something about turning the page and hooking it up on the nail, it is ceremonial to me. We get a new lease on life. A new beginning. In the winter months, those new beginnings save me from wallowing in the doldrums. Other times, it just gives me a reason to start anew: perhaps I've been working too much, or not doing enough, or engaging in behavior that just isn't good and should be stopped. (Do not go into the gutter here, I was specifically thinking about biting my nails, thank you very much.)

So what might I say about today? This first day of March has started out sunny and cool. I haven't given the dog his pill already, because I found out that we need to get more from the vet. I checked to see if the furnace filter actually needs changing (it doesn't), but much like the heart worm pills, I don't have the freshener I need. Probably because I was occupied with something else for the last couple of weeks (helping with the school sound familiar?) and the actual act of writing on my list that I needed heart worm pills and the freshener (and I am sure a bunch of other things) just never happened.

All of that leads me to believe that my new beginning for March, the thing I need to think about the most and try my best to do for the next 30 days is simply to slow down, take the time to do what I need to do, and perhaps along the way, smell some roses, as they say. With the weather we've been having as of late, they just might be blooming when the calendar page gets flipped again.

Comments