*sigh*

Son home from college. Clinic notes finished for the week. All work messages answered and results reported as of leaving the office tonight. Grocery shopping completed, food prep planned, execution begun.

*sigh*

It’s been a dense month, no? Thank you so much to those who have read along these four weeks–four days to go! 28 daily posts down, the most ambitious and unguarded theme since 2021… I have walked the talk of honesty, vulnerability, and openness, among other things; I’m proud of the effort. The output itself gratifies me, too: In both process and product, I think this could be my best writing yet. Whether or not Book ever gets published, I already have a body of work–659 posts. It’s a substantial volume of original and consistent content that I own–all me, all in, BOOBS OUT.

I still have tasks to accomplish this long weekend, and they will get done. But I want to slow the frenetic pace these last four days of the month, breathe more deeply, be more still. I will bake, watch movies, sit on the sofa. I will write, of course, and it will be that much sweeter with a longer stretch of time each day. I feel muscles loosen even as I imagine it now.

Holidays in general and gatherings in particular can feel chaotic and intese. It all lands on each of us differently. I hope for us all, however we feel about any of it, to find at least some moments of rest and comfort here at the end of the year, and this weekend in particular. Space, time, and breath: May we find that languid expanse that signals relaxation, that neurophysiologic response that drops us to center, as close to contentment and serenity as we can get, even if only for a little while.

*sigh*

Wherever we are, whomever we’re with, whatever is happening around us, may we have the wherewithal to effectively self-soothe. Sometimes it really only takes one deep, slow breath.

I Hold Rest for Us All. We need it. May we seek and secure it reliably.
Reset. Recharge. Ready.
We have much work ahead.