I wrote this in an email to a friend back home, whom I miss very much…and I’ll share it here, too:
What I’ve mostly been doing are the daily tasks of life, now the water heater is fixed but no washer, yes dryer so I’ve been washing things by hand. We have to feed the massive wood stove every hour and there is lots to do with keeping warm. And too, the cleaning, which seems endless: as soon as something is tidied up, the stark comparison with all that’s around it means there is just more to clean.
But! It’s not all bleak. We had a fresh snowfall in the night and there is a lovely sledding hill here. And like magic, this old house provides what we most need…there was a blue plastic sled in the cellar. Who knew? So the kids and I had a happy afternoon of sledding, then hot cocoa, and there was a moment, sitting in the kitchen with my 3 frosty-cheeked children, when I felt completely filled with gratitude, and I thought, What more than this? What more could I possibly need?
I wrote this in an email to a friend back home, whom I miss very much…and I’ll share it here, too: