Sit Quietly and Wait



Six weeks have passed since I officially moved to the cabin for a country year. Or a “country while” as I started calling it since I really don’t know how long I will be here. Moving to the cabin is an experiment as much as anything - something that I talked about doing for a long time. I eventually decided I should stop talking and do it. My intention is to write more while I’m here, but the only writing I’ve done so far is freelance work for others. So today, I’m writing the first entry for My Country Life since moving. Hopefully, the first of many.

My favorite time of day here at the cabin is early morning. The coffee pot clicks on at 6 AM, and most days that’s when I get up. It is dark and cold at 6 AM. I use minimal heat overnight and sleep under a stack of blankets. This is a simpler way to manage since I don't have central heat. If I’m cold, I add another blanket; if I’m hot, I just kick one off. Plus, waking up to a chilly cabin and sitting close by the fire harkens back to my childhood when our only source of heat was two gas space heaters. My siblings and I spent the first half hour of every winter morning huddled around the kitchen heater trying to get warm. So I find it comforting to start each day snug in a blanket, coffee in hand, sitting by the fire, facing east, watching the sunrise over the treetops.  

There is a moment, ever so fleeting, just before the sun clears the horizon, when the heavens turn pink, and the naked trees form crisp charcoal silhouettes against the winter sky. I love this moment. If my nose is stuck in the computer checking emails or FaceBook, I may miss it. But if I sit quietly and wait, there it is. And then it’s gone.

Having reached my 50's in what seems like only a flash, I can attest that all of life is fleeting so remember to sometimes sit quietly and wait.

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