'Tis the Season

The first big snow of the year was an easy reason to be still

and home

and do the things I put off all week long

Piles wait for me

Unread newspapers slipping off of the sofa

Mail addressed to me, thick with pleas to contribute to one cause or another

Just because I donated once or never but fit a profile of 

some kind of bleeding heart

Unsorted laundry

Layers of scarves draped over the banister

The over the door hook in the downstairs bathroom

weights the door down with work garments that need special attention

Shriveled boots accumulate in the shoe tray, now water stained by the others 

placed carelessly on top.

And Christ! there are socks everywhere;

Under the kitchen table, in the living room, on the stairs, stuffed inside those limp boots.

I shoveled and swept a bit

Baked cookies for my students who I know will not have moms or grand moms who

love this part of the coming holiday when what hangs in the air is as important as what moves

around them or settles under a tree.

There was a flurry of communication from two of three daughters and friends

Visits from neighbors who stopped by and shared a cup of tea,

a hard conversation with my sister who is anticipating her son Thomas's pending surgery

to save his heart, a good heart, an honest heart, a frightened heart

All of whom I wish could come together to share a meal, embrace at arrival and departure,

and celebrate this season when we give thanks

for all that is good, knowing that each day is precious

and far more important than anything

as trivial as socks.