Janus, Roman God of Beginnings
It’a the end of January, what someone once referred to as “that two-faced month.” Its mythological namesake Janus has one face looking backward, one looking forward.
January serves as a commonly defined “beginning,” not just flipping the page on the calendar, but getting a whole new one. Some folks make New Year’s resolutions despite knowing many are doomed to fail.
It is almost inevitable to try and start anew at the beginning of January. While I avoid making resolutions, I do tend to think forward and set some goals, even if only informally. I even dared to share some thoughts & plans here on the blog.
Sure enough, I’ve just posted an index page for Granddad’s memoir scraps, a step towards organizing access to them. But I remain somewhat stymied on the overall memoir project. I should already be scanning those intact pages I mentioned. I could go ahead and compile some blog posts into a structured piece similar to “Pappa’s Childhood,” particularly those about his rural school days, both as student in the late 1800s and as teacher in the early 20th Century. Those should interest some educators and historians, if no one else.
But I haven’t really done much with the other “big projects” I’ve set out to work on, neither FlexQuest nor the music of my cousin, Will T. Massey. The truth is, I’ve had some false starts for the most part so far this year.
Yes, I suffered a major setback with my nerve injury last summer. That definitely disrupted everything I was doing. I likewise suffered some tech setbacks when my laptop stopped functioning. I still need to re-access some files hidden away on that now (and hopefully only temporarily) inaccessible hard drive.
But maybe I should look at this season as being more about “resumption.” I have begun to resume some of the regular rhythms of my pre-injury life, like my morning freewrite or daily walks (not on sub-freezing icy days like today, though!). Still, it’s the little things, like using my heated mug for my morning coffee again, rather than the travel mug I had to use for months to avoid spills while less steady overall.
Austin Kleon quotes Mark Larson saying, “We expect too much from January and not enough from February,”
I say: Bring it on!
Buller's back porch 