JANUARY TAKES A VACATION
BY CLAY FARO
I’ve often wondered where all the months go after serving their allotted days and weeks required of them each year in, and each year out? I (among most) simply turn the page over to February, or tear off January, tossing him/her into a convenient trash bin; thankless and unapologetic for the marks or scars of ink and markers I etched and scribbled all over its face! Poor and abused January lies heaped and crumpled with my left-over pizza crust, soiled Kleenex tissues, wads of paper and a used-up Bic pen. They are all there to await an unknown destination, forlorn and neglected; to be disposed of into the trash heaps of some forgotten dump or to be ripped and shredded at a recycling plant. “January, oh, January! Wherefore art though, Oh, January!” How we long for thee towards the end of a busy (and often troubling) year, after you and before you . . . then passing into you (crashing into you) with flashes, bangs, and fire to celebrate your new reality!
How soon do we forget you, beautiful January, after all that you represent for hopes and dreams of a fruitful and prosperous, Happy New Year? What of our resolutions and promises for personal growth and change that waxes and wanes as we move through your days and weeks during the middle of winter? Do you feel appreciated and remembered for the birthdates of the blessed Martin Luther King or of the celebrated “King” of Rock & Roll, Elvis Aaron Presley? For all that you (dutifully) bring to us each year, I believe you deserve a vacation! I like to imagine a “resort” for outdated calendar months, a spa, if you will, catering specifically to your every whim and fantasy where you might feel and enjoy relaxing and refreshing inspiration and comfort as you await the “call to duty” of the approaching next year! May you float (unsoaked) upon crystal clean lakes and pools, watch the azure-blue skies above, fleeting with pearly gulls or birds of paradise, as you meditate upon the purpose of your essential service each and every year until time is no more.
When you look over there, you might see “December” (from the year before) as he/she soaks up a few rays of warm sunshine before taking up its required place at the end of this calendar year, 2024. (You may have noted a shiver or two, as winters come cold in this hemisphere!) I would hope that you will also have (in your reality) the hope that you are not taken for granted, dear January. Certainly, there will always be joys and sorrows among your 31 days . . . for which you witness all, or each of our triumphs and tragedies of will. You provide for us all to experience your provision of an allotment of days and weeks to choose the right or the wrong, the truth or the error, the correct or incorrect decisions that will shape our futures for time and for eternity. Please recognize how important and dependent upon you we are for what you represent and are dedicated to do for us at your assigned position in the calendar, dear January. I hope that you will enjoy every moment of your eleven months of vacation and know that you are loved!
The Capricorn and the Aquarian celebrate their starry and universal heritage during and throughout your placement among us. Perhaps you haven't had the privilege or the opportunity to meet February, as he/she must be in the appointed position by the time you are, more often than not, absently removed or discarded as an afterthought! I apologize, dear January, for my own folly and absent-minded disregard! I want you to know (yet again) how very important and influential you are and have always been since time began . . . standing first among the “Magnificent 12!” I think of all the spaces and places where you provide us with your schedule, hung up on the wide assortments of walls, or laid out on a busy desk among many of your other “siblings” in buildings of businesses, trades, and commerce. I can see your face upon the musty brick and mortar of a lonely prison cell, as the prisoner approaches (yet again) to cross out another mournful day . . . Looking hopefully to a brighter tomorrow. Day after day, as you fulfill your part, we start placing your importance behind us and forget our “New Year” resolutions. | CF