I love winter. I LOVE IT. This morning when I got back from walking Una to school, I came in and said, ‘It’s freezing out there. Whats the temp?’ and Drew handed me his phone and I pulled up the weather and it said 20 and I said “20?! No way. It feels like 14” and - poof - the phone updated and a 14 popped up. I mean, that’s insane! I know the difference between 20 and 14 in my bones, and I still love winter.

I sometimes suspect I moved to Maine for the winter (though I did not know or admit that at the time) and when the solstice approaches, I feel like I’m not ready. And I know that’s crazy. I love summer, too, but I also want to hibernate; bring on the darkness and the cold and the invitation to turn inward. That is the medicine of winter, and I’m taking it.

Tonight, in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s the winter solstice: the deepest, darkest night of the year, and the very end of a wild and difficult decade. I’m going to find some warmth, and some quiet, and some twinkling lights, and enjoy the darkness. I’ll see you in the New Year. 2020! It’s going to be a good one.