Janniversaries

It’s difficult to believe it’s been 3 weeks since I posted any news here. I can’t really explain why—I suppose I could offer the excuse that I have limited use of my “mouse hand,” but this would be disingenuous. The splint protecting my right CMC joint is definitely a help not a hindrance.

Perhaps the best I can do is acknowledge that January blew through here like a Nor’easter. One day we were wishing each other Happy New Year and the next we were turning the calendar page to February, issuing invitations to our Passover Seder. I consult my “January 2nd & beyond” to-do list, printed in Times New Roman, single-spaced with deadlines in bold, important items highlighted by hand, and I feel discouraged. 

So I start a different list on the back of the wrinkled sheet of paper, scribbling the things I want to remember, the things I accomplished in January 2023:

Jan. 2nd Lunch with my eldest and her fiancé to plan their wedding ceremony.
Jan. 5th Burial of Burton Lee Katz, may his memory be a blessing.
Jan. 11th  Lively Book Club discussion of The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham.
Jan. 15th Celebrating Dad’s 80th birthday, hanging out with our New Jersey family and friends, watching football, eating Jewish food—bagels and lox, hot pastrami on rye—and Italian food, and too many desserts.
Jan. 19th  Our 31st wedding anniversary is a busy day of classes and meetings for me and, since my spouse has a dinner meeting in midtown, my friend and I eat vegan Ramen takeout together.

Then we head to the movie theater to see A Man Called Otto.

Jan. 23rd  Today begins another full week of teaching for me, and my spouse is out of town at a conference. We’ve already had some warm days this month and the daffodils are reaching for the sun. When I take Henry out after dinner, I see a sliver of the new moon rising above the trees. I sing verses from Psalms as we walk around the block:

זֶה־הַ֭יּוֹם עָשָׂ֣ה ה’ נָגִ֖ילָה וְנִשְׂמְחָ֣ה בֽוֹ

This is the day that God has made, let us be glad and rejoice on it.

Jan. 31st  Today is the last day of Unit 4 lessons in Spanish 2 and Spanish 3; 12 classes in 9 days. I still need to grade the students’ projects, record notes about what worked well and what can be improved next year. But this can wait until tomorrow.

I fold the paper and tuck it into my writer’s notebook, which only has about a dozen blank pages left, which will surely be filled in February with musings and observations, poems and prayers. I’m looking forward to celebrating these Janniversaries in 2024.