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Tuesday, January 08, 2019

The January Hangover

Same thing happens
every year:

after Thanksgiving
the whole world
seemed to be dressed
in red and green
and snow white with colored lights
with everyone was playing
the same music,

and then on
December 26
it all stops.

All the laughter,
the music,
togetherness

and everything just gets
dark and cold
and dull.

Every January
I go into my post-Christmas funk.

I know it's all
an illusion of
togetherness
this worldwide party
to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

In December its easier
to accept my longing
for a larger shared experience,

for something special
maybe even a miracle.

So as I gather the Christmas
decorations and the cds and
put them back into storage,

I wait out January
determined that it won't
get me down,

and I look forward
to the anniversary of my sobriety,
to my wife's birthday,
to Valentine's Day,

to February.

[Posted for The Tuesday Platform at Imaginaary Garden with Real Toads.]

12 comments:

  1. Can we just pretend it's February ... always?

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  2. ...to hang on to the spirit is a bit hard. It takes effort for sure.

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  3. Oh... the winter blues, I hate them too.

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  4. Those are three great dates to keep in mind........I always love beginnings: new years, mornings, months, weeks....am still here. Yay!......so am holding out some hope for this year.

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  5. This January is particularly cold, Bruddah Buddah. I hope yours warms soon ~

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  6. It's always good to look forward to personal celebrations and enjoy them as they come. They last longer than the socially prescribed ones. So well said about December:
    "In December its easier/to accept my longing/for a larger shared experience..."

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  7. Gosh this one hits you right in the gut! Powerful.

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  8. I know that let down and funk but hopefully good days are coming for a celebration. Cheers!!!

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  9. Mosh, I understand this, all too well. For me, it's usually mid-March, as the sun climbs higher, in the northern sky. Bypassing my birthday, in February. May this year, be easier for you, as the calendar pages are turn over.

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  10. Ah the long days of January can get you down. Nice poem.

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  11. Congratulations on your sobriety Buddah! Well done! And yes, Post-Christmas funk is real. But this January, we have the Super Blood Wolf Moon to look forward to on the 21st. I touched on this in my post...

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  12. It doesn't end until Jan. 6 at my house. We wait until Epiphany, the celebration of the visitation of the magi, before we take it all down. Then I try to keep that feeling of love and belonging in my heart even as the decorations are put away. On the flip side, the holidays themselves can leave me feeling blue as I miss loved ones who are no longer here, especially my mom who I last saw on Thanksgiving 1987.

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