Here Comes The Sun
aka Dinner Party Who?
Hello Loves,
"Loneliness does not come from having no people around you, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to you, or from holding certain views which others find inadmissible" - Carl Jung
How was your weekend? I took Thursday and Friday off for an entire 4 straight days of sleeping in, sitting outside wearing linen, and not thinking about the office. It was divine.
The past few months have been tough. I have not felt at all like myself. Although, as I get older, I wonder - what is feeling like myself, really? We all change (at least I hope we do) and that touchstone of feeling like oneself inevitably morphs. I’m still feeling a bit isolated here in Duluth, 20 minutes north of Atlanta, but invitations to join friends for evenings of frivolity and laughter are slowly trickling in. For that, I am more than grateful.
Dare I say that a lot of us feel less than social and effervescent when the weather is cold and grey? That first warm, sunny day is like an injection of happiness.
When we owned our house downtown, before escaping to Portugal, even the Winter months were filled with parties. The Thanksgiving dinners, Christmas night dessert celebrations, New Years Eve pajama soirees, Super Bowl throw downs, and my annual birthday fetes kept the cold nights lively, but now that we are ensconced here in Duluth, 20 minutes from the center of it all, we might as well be in Siberia.
The warmer days are making me more optimistic, though. Our front porch, which overlooks the vast traffic plains of Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, is big enough to host six friends for dinner and then a dip in the apartment pool this summer. I keep threatening to invite all the residents in our building over for snacks and drinks, but I keep chickening out. If this happens, I will report back. All they can say is no. Perhaps they are also hoping for an invitation to get off the couch and make a new friend or two.
How about you? Have you felt a disconnection lately? Is it the state of the world - which I try to distract myself from by bird watching and enjoying the sunsets - or are we still suffering from post traumatic Covid stress? As I mature, am I less interested in throwing a party for 200 of my less than nearest and dearest? My moniker on all social media is DinnerPartyP. Maybe going forward a little more dinner, a little less party? I’m craving deeper connections, not just a sea of acquaintances in my house where I have to introduce myself to them. That was always weird.
Anyhoo, the warm weather is upon us and I am ready to bask in all that entails. Farmers markets, patio dinners with friends, beverages on the Beltline, afterwork hangs in the pool are all on my agenda.
I hope to see you there.
Remember, you are ENOUGH and always have been. I love you.
xoxo,
Patti