Five Days, and Counting

Helen Wasco sent this perfect card.

With just five days to go before we set sail on our grand mystery of an odyssey, I’m taking a break from the endless cleaning and packing.

We have settled in for the evening. Samwise and Emily have their chews and are content. I have a pot of green tea and that has me feeling the same way. In the background, the WCRB classical holiday stream fills our little hobbit hole with nostalgia and the Christmas-wrapped magic of this time of the year. I cannot help but be transported back to the humble home of my childhood at the corner of Village Street and Neelon Lane in Medway, Massachusetts while the music wash over us.

The jingle bell rock and holly jolly Christmas style doesn’t work for me after the year we’ve withstood. There’s a calm about the music of the holidays in classical form and it feeds my need for contemplation and comfort. It’s like slipping into an old friend. It’s healing in that way.

One of the wonders of technology is that I can stream this…