Reflect

As the moments of 2008 start to fade (can't believe tomorrow is the last day of the year!), its time to reflect. This time I'm not reflecting on this past year-its high and lows, its plusses and minuses. Instead I'm reflecting on the cycle of life.
No, not the Lion King, but how our lives roll through some regular natural moments- like winter- short days-though getting slowly day by day, snow and cold, our bodies not wanting to get out of bed on a cold morning nor not really ambitious in January evenings. With school, the semester is winding down. Then we get in February- and our thoughts turn to love and Valentine's day, and then our February school vacation. Mud season, the last of snow, spring at last, then blackfly season and the sumemr tasks like starting up the gardens and opening the screen porch. Green grass and leaves returning...summer, warmth, vacation, and then the arrival of fall, a new school year, leaves turning, holiday season...
I know I have put this into a very short synopsis, but it is so much in itself to go through. Comforting to go through, just a swing in the natural cycle of life. Then there is the discovery as our bodies change as we age and watch our children grow older. Never mind the news and events which make up our lives. Our children's lives non cycle through something like ours...I remember being 17 like Katie is. Our life is not a circle that matches theirs, but a spiral.
Ok, maybe I am being philosophical and maybe I am just babbling and make no sense, but I am struck by change (after watching Milk yesterday and Marley and Me today) and lack of change. One thought I had was that I was born into a world of segregation and now (in 21 days) we shall have an African American President. But the cycle of the Presidency continues. So not a circle, but a spiral. Winter comes every year, with certain definates (like short days and colder temperatures), but one never knows how much snow. Or for how long it will go on here in NH. Spiral again.
I find this cycle comforting tonight, maybe because I'm often a little afraid of the New Year- afraid of the bad things that may come, but this year, I am not. I am more filled with hope. Hope is a very very good thing, and I guess I have babbled on enough for one night.