Spending Time

The first day of 2012 was spent… there it is …that idea of preciousness of time, spent and never to be regained or repeated.  The day started with expressions of love and affection and then a leap from bed into water proof boots and out to the flatlands to clam!  We picked up the bucket made of woven iron and the small rakes and trudged the few steps from our home to the breakwater.

I sloshed through the water through some soggy sand as Jane walked on the rocks above.  We arrived at a point about a quartermile out in the low tide and started digging.  The sweet click of the clam shell on the rake was music to our ears in just a few moments.  After an hour and a lot of raking, leaving a wide patch in our wake, we headed back home with another 40 clams for dinner.

Not wanting to miss our dear friend doing a sermon on laughter and silence at the UU Meeting house, we changed into less muddy boots took off our clamming gloves and headed to church.  What a wonderful community that you can come in from foraging and join in with song and prayer.  I went up and lit a candle to celebrate that this was so and we stayed and enjoyed the uniquely talented Diann Hamilton help us laugh and laugh and laugh and take our joy into the silence.

Unwilling to miss anything, we realized it was time to head to a friends for black eyed peas and brandy alexanders.  Yes you heard that right.  Wow were those beans cooked with ham hocks a great way to start the day, and the brandy alexander was basically a milkshake with brandy in it!  I didn’t learn all of what was in it until I slurped the last drop… our friends Gail and Dawn use Haggendaz  ice cream in theirs!

Okay, next stop a little football and the best chicken wings I’ve ever tasted, really, I’m not making this stuff up! These wings are crispy baked in a juicy sauce made with soy and balsamic garlic, yummy!  So we downed a few of those at Gabby and Marcy’s and finally decided it was time to head to the ocean side of the beach to meet Kate and friends for a ritual bon fire.

At the bon fire we wrote our annual discards on a slip of paper and threw them into the flames with the intention of letting them go, releasing them from our lives.  I know for me, some version of the same thing I confront each year was scribbled down and tossed into the fire with faith.  Faith that somehow this small act would make progress inside me.

Cold and exhilarated from the community, the fire, the water, and the God painted sky, we finally went home to bathe.  After washing off the clams, the smoke and the day, I got in my new Christmas jammies and poured a nice glass of wine.  Jane headed out for one more party but came home a little more than an hour later and joined me and our dear friend Laurie for a sweet movie and some home made popcorn.

Ok so I left out a few moments of disagreement, a quick jaunt shopping and some chats with family, but all in all that was how the day was spent.  Well done, I say.  Happy New year all.  May your days be joyfully spent in service to love and life itself.