Tidings of Comfort and Joy!

Sparkly! Brilliant! Mysteriously beautiful! This has been truly a lovely weekend.

Saturday, I got to spend a pleasant hour discussing my son with his father. This is surprisingly pleasant, and although I was brusque when he started to wax squarmily poetic about the joy of parenthood, we had an excellent parenting meeting.

Then, I took my Lane Bryant coupon and presented myself at the mall to buy some pants. Everything in the store 40% off! Don't mind if I do! I left with three pairs of excellent pants (two of those super wide leg pants that I think will become my new business-wear uniform), a beautiful blue French cuff button down shirt, a black tank, a gorgeous burgundy cardigan that buttons to the solar plexus then gets all tunic-y and reminds of the sweater from The Golden Compass when she meets Yurik for the first time, ten pairs of exciting socks, three bras, and one linen top for the spring. $400 worth of stuff for $178. wow. I'm really shocked that I spent almost 2 franklins on retail clothes, but it will also last me for a while! I'll need to get a jacket before the next NSNA convention in Texas, but otherwise, I'm set.

I had a chance to sing at a nursing home on Saturday afternoon. I was worried, because what sounded like a good idea via email is not always fun or rewarding in person. But it was a wonderful experience, and I witnessed excellent caregiving of the residents by the staff, and watched people really respond to our singing. I left considering working in a nursing home, something I've sworn I would never ever do so early in my career, for fear of burning out on a awful working environment. But I could do it, if I remember to sing regularly.

Then I came home and pulled the tags off my new stuff, and went to a friends for a ritual and Winter Solstice stone soup party. The ritual was lovely, and I got a chance to put words to my wish for the season: That we can experience quiet and be comforted, rather than continue to try to fill the silence every second. The soup was stunningly good - the hostess started with Progresso Tomato Basil and then everyone brought about a cup of a chopped veggie. It was hard for me to bring just one thing - I wanted to bring everything that I wanted in the soup, and then just eat that! I saw eggplant go in, and thought, oh well. I can still enjoy the salad. But it was good! very good!
I had a chance to sit at the table with three experienced nurses and talk about school and practice. It was really nourishing to listen to them speak of how their practice has changed and evolved over the years, and hear their encouragement of me. I also listened to a woman speak frankly of her past relationships, which have included women and men, and I was rather comforted by the normalizing way that she talked about it.

Then, I dashed through the rain to a Dances of Universal Peace gathering and danced and sang praises for an hour to Shakti, et al. There were about fifteen people there and six of them were men - which is wholly unheard of in my experience with spiritual gatherings. True, fifteen years of spiritual gatherings have been specifically women-only, and then other groups were often offshoots of that one, but even workshops or classes or whatevers, it's been mostly women. I was so comforted by the presence of these normal looking men, in their jeans and their flannel shirts. Somehow, I had hope to see them there, twirling and chanting.

Then this evening, the kid and I went to an annual Interfaith Celebration and had a lovely time. An acapella group sang a song called Star of Wonder and another about Dawn breaking in my soul and it was unspeakably lovely. Some lovely angel took the child to another room to make stars and I was able to actually particpate in the meditation, without constantly swatting the kids' hands to get him to stop rustling his aluminum foil on his candle.

And the weather is finally cold! Like, seriously cold! I might get a chance to wear that ridiculous long coat with the big fuzzy collar - kind of cold.

I'm full. Humming, happy and full.