XIX (19) Recharge

In these winter months it’s easy to find ourselves moving slower, still being low energy even when we get plenty of sleep. That is absolutely okay. At my Uncle Jibril’s funeral, he was a jazz trumpet player who connected me with my family tradition at my Grandfather’s funeral, I met Scratch AKA Sensei, who grew up with my Uncle and Dad in Overtown, Miami. Scratch got his nickname because he would cary a record player around with him and could get the vibe going anywhere, he was ahead of his time. He was also called sensei, because he was a wise street philosopher and chess-master, and we hit it off immediately, although we had a pretty heated chess match. It was all respect.

Scratch imparted a lot of wisdom to me that night, in addition to mourning the loss of my Uncle, I was going through an intense heartbreak, but that funeral was full of a whole lot of healing, some of the medicine is just kicking in now. Scratch told me that the seasons have reasons, and that if like me you tend to be super productive in the summer, and if like all of us we tend to be 24/7 go, go, go all year long, we need to remember that winter has a purpose. If spring is when you sow the seed and till the fields, fall is the harvest, and summer is … the heat… we’ll say the fun… winter is for rest and recharging, and we need to listen to what our bodies need. So don’t be down on yourself if you can’t figure out why your energy is lower than normal, you’re just recharging.

We don’t know what will come next. This morning, I thought I was going to go to Muay Thai (martial arts) and then to Trader Joe’s or Wegman’s…. we ended up taking in a small dog to the chagrin of our other two dogs. It’s a foster situation, but I learned today that an old friend fostered two puppies last week, and within a week they became forever members of his family.