work for the new year

So today, after ignoring the enormous pile of wood chips in our side yard that has been looking at me expectantly for the past two weeks (since I was the one who talked to the tree guys working at our neighbors' house and explicitly invited the chips to come and stay), I decided it was time to break out the shovel and wheelbarrow and get to work. Gabriel joined me and despite the fact that I am feeling rather heavy with child these days, at first it was all kind of great. We plugged on merrily, slow and steady, me with my big belly channeling the spirit of Ma Ingalls, or one of those domestic homesteading paragons we've all encountered on the internet, or maybe just the older Lancaster County farm women who seem to glow with strength and stamina whenever I see them at their market stands on visits. Surely they have all shoveled their share of third trimester wood chips?

Gabriel developed his own technique, sometimes digging deep holes in the pile with long sticks, sometimes hurling rocks at the pile, and eventually using a lacrosse stick to load up his wheelbarrow.

And then, about half an hour later ... my arms and back began to ache. The enormity of the job began to discourage. And Gabriel, who had wandered into other parts of the yard, suggested a story inside would be more fun. Yet I persisted, for a few more loads at least. And then went out later in the day to shovel some more. The pile compelled me.

This holiday break has been so lovely, filled to the brim with family and friends (pictures soon to come), and the last few days have focused on the wood chip-like work that we have been waiting til now to do, before this baby girl comes to join us in two short months. Ikea furniture assembly! Hand-me-down sorting and organization! Even the enormous pot of minestrone I made for friends last night that had me chopping kale and potatoes into tiny pieces for what seemed like hours. It has all required a slower pace, a refusal to multi-task, a giving over to the sometimes tedious, sometimes soothing nature of work with our hands.  

It's been restorative. We've been working on it all together. Gabriel goes back to school tomorrow, I go back to work the next day, and everything will slide into a much faster, frenetic pace before I know it. So right now I am soaking in - as best I can - the stillness, the starkness of backyard birds on bare branches, the lingering hugs, the slow mornings in pajamas. The extraordinary pleasure of being our family of four, before we grow and change once again!

Happy, happy new year to all of you. May 2013 be filled with peace, health, and joy in your homes and in your communities. I do think it's going to be a good year.