The Most Wonderful Time

Dear Readers,
It has been a long absence. I wake up every morning with the intention of writing letters, of finishing that book sitting on the dresser, of writing in my blog. And yet, so far none of that has happened. Its like my motivation has become frozen with the weather; all I want to do is sit on the couch and waste away into nothing staring at facebook. Actually, that's not what I want to do at all, but yet I let myself get mired into the murky bog that is the internet.

After all, I tell myself that I am supposed to be relaxing. And laying on the couch all day is relaxing. I take walks. I go out for groceries. Sometimes I open up a can of bean soup and cook it for my sister who has a cold at the moment. And its true that my legs have felt like jello for over a week, and it takes me a long time to get around. Yet, I was much more fulfilled in Italy when I didn't go out of the monastery for weeks; maybe it was being around people all the time. I think this "resting" has been good in a way, but its also made me best friends with my computer. Which is not optimal.

So I did something productive today: I helped my mom pack Christmas presents for our relatives. It was really fun! We listened to Christmas music and bagged nuts, then taped up the boxes and addressed them. I felt like I was part of something bigger, which hasn't happened in a while. I can't help missing Italy, especially with the last week where everyone came together and put on the most amazing Christmas concert. But I've decided that home shouldn't be a place of mourning for that, but a place of respite where I can do all of those little tasks that always build up when you have no time to spare.

Next up: writing some awesome letters.