Cold Dark Warmth and Light

"I may not see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I know there is one.”
~ Maya Angelou

So it's winter solstice today, and here I am in Sunnyvale visiting my mom for a day or two. It's been lovely to see everyone, and I am beyond grateful to my sister and her family, and my mom. But it's very weird to be so cold, and to have this sense of extended deja vu. I cannot get warm, and I'm really feeling wintry; sort of going into hibernation mode. I'm terribly homesick for the warmth of the island and our little house in Kaimuki. This depth of feeling is wholly unexpected and I'm not exactly sure what to do with it.

So I listened to my mom's talk at her church this morning regarding Hannukah, Advent and the Winter Solstice, and some of the things she said made me think. It was about relationships and how we run into problems when we expect permanence; when we assume things won't change, and that if they do, we've failed. When in actuality, things are always in flux. Seasons change, people change and grow, circumstances change, and our lives are shaped by how we handle those changes.

Reflecting on the illusion of permanence, the transformations inherent in change, and the hope inherent in transformation...

Aloha pumehana