Open2it Community Blog

It's 5 PM on a Saturday in December and  I'm sitting by a roaring woodstove.  In another room I can hear my husband lighting the fireplace - our girls crumpling newspaper for kindling.    They're excited.  We haven't had the fireplace lit since last February.

Outside the thin milky sky has pale pink evening streaks;  blue-gray clouds are slowly moving east.   It's cold.  White snow drifts in and around the prairie's pale yellows, russet oranges, and dark browns. It's quiet.

My 12 year old fed the chickens.  My 9 year old fed the dog.  My husband brought over more wood to feed the fires.  I need to figure out what to feed them....

Tonight is the first of 15 nights that will be very similar to this.  Being together, warm inside, watching the sunset and the day slip away into night....and I'm afraid.

The moment is fragile - a poignant time in our memories.  There will never be another time like now and, like the sunset, there's nothing we can do to keep it from slipping away into the night.  

What makes this feel right?  What are the most important elements?  Everything.