Suddenly, the mailbox is full of catalogs I didn't request for things I don't want or need, kicking off a season fraught with stress and commercialism and continually challenging me to find my place of peace and simple joys. I see cars flying up and down the street and garage doors opening and closing quickly, and I can only imagine what the schedules in those houses are like, since mine spins out of control with such ease.
I am reminded of a song named "Busy, Busy, Busy" from the excellent Sandra Boynton CD, Phildelphia Chickens (okay, I'm on a bit of chicken kick this week!) which a group of students sang at an elementary school concert I attended:
"We're very, very busy and we have a lot to do
And we haven't got a moment to explain it all to you.
On Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, we're as busy as can be,
And on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, there are people we must see . . ."
The song goes on and on, at breakneck speed (listen to it at the link below). The audience mostly laughed, in recognition of their overscheduled lives. But I felt extremely sad watching what should have been a satire but realizing it wasn't. Realizing it was truly how many of us are living. And so, add the holidays to that, and it's a bit of a recipe for disaster.
Magazines are filled with advice for making the holidays "stress-free." Pre-order this, freeze that, skip this, try that. But the best four words I've read yet were in the December issue of Body and Soul magazine. Linger a little longer.
And so I've been walking around thinking of those words, and how counterintuitive they are at such a busy time of year. As I was pondering these words, how they even taste good to say with the almost-rhyming "linger" and "longer," I noticed the yellow pear tomatoes, hanging like grapes on the still-flowering tomato plant that is draped all over one of my herb beds. Lingering a little longer in a garden racing toward winter. Soaking in the late-afternoon sunshine. Smelling that distinctly summer-smell of tomato. And simply being.
And so I made this salad, with tatsoi and kale and arugula and lemon balm, and those lazy yellow tomatoes that are in no rush to leave. And I decided yes. I will linger a little longer this holiday season. And I will not rush.
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3 comments:
Hey Pattie
I'm always concerned by the junk catalogs that somehow find us out here in the boonies, but recently I came across a service that will get the companies to stop. So far it has worked for us. You just need to get those catalogs in front of you and type in the customer number. It allows you to select each member of your household (clever), and even allows you to save the company if you don't have the catalog on hand: the site is called http://www.catalogchoice.org/
All our tomatoes are finally, irredeemably dead, so I have salad envy!
el - I was going to post the exact same thing. I even wrote about the service on my blog. I love it!
I have a subscription to Body and Soul magazine. I really like it!
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