Sunday Letter: 03.05.23

Dear Sunday Letter friends~

One of the things I love about living in northwest Arkansas is we have four distinct seasons every year. And sometimes, we even enjoy all four seasons in four consecutive days.

‘Enjoy’ is probably not the best verb.

Sun. Thunderstorms. Drizzle. Tornadic Winds. Freezing Fog. Hail. Record heat. Ummm, yes, it’s no wonder our plants are a tad bit confused.

The good news is each day—cold, crazy, or otherwise—brings us that much closer to🌷S P R I N G🌷.

😎

Sometimes, life flashes even when you aren’t dying.

Last weekend I was in Dallas for a book club talk. It was a life-flashing-before-my-eyes sort of thing because the book club was hosted at a friend’s house. And way back in the day, I lived in the house next door. My husband and I purchased the house next door when our daughter was ten months old.

During the weeks before we moved in, I spent HOURS painting the interior while my firstborn scooted around on the hardwoods in her walker. And lucky for me, my next-door neighbor came over, introduced herself, and began helping me paint.

We’ve been friends ever since.

A few thoughts on this recent visit back to the neighborhood:

• It’s funny how my friend and I have barely aged yet my baby daughter is now in her thirties. Hahaha.
• All the places I’ve lived have helped shape me, becoming part of my story. It’s almost like bits and pieces of those spaces are woven into my DNA.
• Hopefully, when the time really does come bringing that for-real life flash, I’ll have a story worth watching.
• I grew up watching The Jetsons. And I truly expected that by the year twenty-twenty-three (!!!), we would be able to zip around in groovy spacecars (or at least have a comprehensive bullet train system) to make a trip from Fayetteville to Dallas like a speedy Disney ride.
• And, finally, I thought by now I would be able to travel back in time, at least occasionally, to re-visit my younger self, to sit on Kratz Hill with the neighbors on a warm Friday night, enjoying cold beer and Picasso’s Pizza, and being positively thrilled to have two whole weekend days before the next manic Monday rolls around. And then again, in a way, I just did.

Two Months Gone

We may not be able to travel back in time, but time sure can fly forward at a rapid speed. With two months of the new year already behind us, the beginning of March is a good time to reflect on all those goals we set back on January 1 (or thereabouts), to see if we are staying somewhat on track.

It’s okay if we’ve already flown off the rails. We do what we can, and sometimes we adjust. Other times we just go with the flow. The important thing is to be aware. Time is oh so finite, isn’t it?

I’m doing pretty good with the following:

• traveling more
• writing and reading everyday
• getting my books out into the world and booking events

I’m doing marginally okay with:

• stretching, strengthening, exercising
• clean, healthy eating

I still need to work on balancing my commitments.

One of the best decisions I’ve made is to give up Twitter. Although I check it occasionally for Razorback info, I no longer waste a second of my time scrolling through the feed. Not only was it a major time drain for me, but the negative hateful political rhetoric was getting to me.

Sometimes small adjustments lead to major changes.

Have you given up anything in 2023? If so, has it made a difference yet?

Monthly Phenology

In 2023, I have been creating monthly phenology wheels. For me, this is fun, relaxing, and beneficial to my creativity. (As a reminder, phenology is the study of nature’s cycles, like hibernation and migration.) This can be interpreted many ways. For my monthly phenology wheels, I am recording a tidbit about nature each day of the month. A plant or animal I notice. Weather patterns. The lunar phases.

Take a sneak peek at my January and February efforts.

I have to say, I’m loving this process!

Is this something you would be interested in knowing more about?

I plan to do a big reveal of each month at the beginning of 2024.

Things Momma Says:

We can’t live everywhere. 

🏡 🏡🏡

Thanks for reading today’s Sunday Letter. With only fifteen days until spring, I believe we might make it!

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

P.S. The Jetsons was set in 2062, chosen because that date was 100 years after the show premiered. Since we are still 39 years out, perhaps I’ve been expecting too much too soon. BUT, if I live to be 100, I too might be jetting around in a spacecar to my doctor’s appointments.