Happy (Lunar) New Year
It’s a new moon in the recently arrived year of the dragon, and I can’t think of a better time to get my blog back on then, well, tonight. In the past two years I’ve relocated across many states, landing back in my hometown of Huntsville, Alabama. I finally severed the last legal ties of my marriage, packed up my children, and moved home. The house search that I was sure would last three months stretched into nine, and ultimately connected me to the most magical house I could imagine (minus the six month renovation it took to actually get us in said house). In between, I left the institution for which I’d worked the last 14 years and decided to get back and give back to the community as a public educator. It’s been quite the ride, teaching English Language Arts to high school juniors in a Title 1 school with a rough reputation, but there’s nothing I love more than an underdog, and the students I teach delight and inspire me every day.
In between, one of the many threads I’ve lost is my writing, so I’m re-committing to the blog life and excited to see what takes hold. To this end, I’ve got a slightly more topical blog in the works, so stay posted for more info there as well as the occasional, maybe frequent, cross post. In the meantime, Happy Lunar New Year! I personally always need a new year re-do by this point in February, so feel like the Chinese are really on to something with this holiday. Two of my best friends and I have a habit of gathering to acknowledge this day and many of the conversations have become quite memorable. The Year of the Metal Rat (2020) stands out particularly, as we were discussing a future that never manifested in February 2020 as the world teetered on the brink of the COVID pandemic. The world of that gathering doesn’t even seem to exist anymore, and that’s something I’m still coming to terms with and probably will be for some time. I’d love to know how you feel about that world, what remains, and if there are moments of total and amazed overwhelm to think of all that was both gained and left behind by living through such an epic global event.
The year of the dragon is supposed to be particularly auspicious, so here’s wishing all of you lots of luck, love, and both the warmth and inspiration of fire for the next year and many years to come. To read more about the Chinese New Year, I appreciated this article from The Washington Post and particularly fell for this adorable Feng Shui master in this short but sweet CNN video which makes some PRETTY solid and encouraging predictions for our U.S. election year.