Seeing 2020: Blogging from Italy as a new day begins...about life, art, writing, and the unexpected roads traveled.
A month ago I sat journaling in the quiet of morning thankful for the chance to simply stare at the Christmas tree. It was set up earlier than usual. We had needed the sparkle. The reflection of lights in the window. The stockings hung in a hopeful row. The ornaments marking the years of our family history. The red ladder with the skinny Santa one of us named ‘Louie.’ Silver wire framing my late father as a boy.
These objects told the story of our lives. Things broken. Lost. Changes. Others holding steady, like that red ladder Louie’s been clinging to for thirty years.
Christmas has always been a magical season. Fifty-four years of wonder. Hope. The storing up of memories. The marvel at a God who would pay so dear a price for me. So that I could have access to sparkle and wonder unending.
2019 was a difficult yet marvelous year. (Here's why, if you missed it.) And it led me unexpectedly yet marvelously to Italy.
This week I’ll travel with a group of students to Florence for the semester. While the difficult/marvelous events of 2019 often had me silent, internalizing, tying knots in strings to hold tight to, the prospect of seeing Florence in spring has me bursting to share. New landscapes are such hopeful propositions.
As I seek to refill my artist’s cup, let me help refill yours, too. Come go with me by following the blog, by liking and sharing posts, by inviting others to come along. None of us knows what 2020 will hold. Chances are that by the time we’re hanging our Christmas sparkle out again near the end of it, we’ll all look back and call it another difficult yet marvelous year.
Leanne
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If you liked this blog post you might be interested in my books Leaving Independence and A Contradiction to His Pride, or my short story On a Dark and Snowy Night, great paired with a bleak day and a warm blanket, and available as a free PDF download through the end of January.
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