You must forgive me, November, on being late to your farewell party. Once December arrived, dead week (dead only in the sense of “killing us with assignments”) and finals week were nipping at its heels. I’ve been thoroughly involved with them ever since, so couldn’t give you your proper send-off. Forgive me for that.
November, our final autumnal month, you came with stressors galore. Your very calling card was “Stress Unlimited,” if I correctly recall. You entered this house and made a mess of it, strewing assignments and sickness and stinging revelation this way and that. It looked like a cyclone tore through, you heathen, not one embellished with holiday bits and bobs. No, you were of a destructive nature. You were forceful.
But, much like nature’s own shows of force, there was also beauty to you. Your lightning strikes shed light on facts that should be known. Your gales blew previously closed doors open. Your deluge rained down excitement and love. Your thunder proclaimed of better things to come. So, while you were certainly not one hundred percent enjoyable, you brought the metaphorical yin and yang together into one month of thirty days. Perhaps there were weeks when my mood tracker read “lonely” or “anxious” more often than not, but life balances out eventually.
November, you brought joy in the sense of celebrating a birthday of a loved one (who’s too freaking old, stop growing up, geez). You brought fulfillment by way of artistic achievement. You brought fullness in discussions and art-making with friends old and new. You brought delight in buying Christmas gifts far too early (it brings me joy, okay?). You brought intrigue via books both learned and emotional. You brought relief in the (kind of) end of an election, the beginning of a much-needed ending. You brought comfort in snuggling under blankets with tea or cocoa, and bingeing The Crown, Supernatural, and Gilmore Girls (I’m a horrendous binger, so yes, I’m still working through that last one). You brought reconnection with colleagues and friends I haven’t seen in a year or more. You brought hope, even in your paper cut possibilities and wrathful reveals. I thank you for that one.
And now, on this day of December 11th, my first MFA application is in. My professional website is published. Monsters in Our Blood has been released, with a wonderful response. I’m working on a short film of polyamorous pirates for my screenwriting final (shoutout to Anne Bonny, Mary Read, and Calico Jack Rackham, for my curious readers). Preliminary finals work is done. I’m in love with both of the books I’m reading. I’m currently working on a new segment of Badass Women in History, BIPOC edition; I took part in an anti-racist theatre workshop with Nicole Brewer that’s helped me solidify what I want my future practice to be. More important than all of that, I’m surrounded by a loving mother, father, sister, brother, boyfriend, grandmother, and grandfather, and one very aloof-but-kind-of-loving dog.
All-in-all, I’m doing well.
So peace out, November. Let’s go, December. Let’s go, holiday season.
See you soon.
~Rhiannon~
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