This final strip and its message have stuck with me since its publication on Dec. 31, 1995. I loved reading Calvin and Hobbes in the local newspaper. They were always so full of imagination and adventure. When Watterson decided to end the strip, he left me with the image that the adventures continue and that the world is waiting for you to slide down it like a hill of freshly fallen snow. The image that it is a blank page also appeals to this writer and lover of art.
My blogger friend Jen Chandler wrote about loving Januauary. Is she crazy? I wondered. But, after I read her post, I had a newfound appreciation for January, that fresh start, the hills of fresh snow, beckoning me to make tracks.
Lake Carlos near Alexandria, MN
Here is an image I took of January in my area. The dead-looking tree in front of a frozen lake. And, yet, there is so much life within both. The tree is not dead. It is in its dormant, resting, stage. The old leaves have all fallen off. New ones will start budding in the spring. It will grow, stretch, and expand, the way our lives do as we open ourselves to new relationships and experiences. And, the frozen lake? Oh, there is so much life swimming around under there. Have you ever walked out on a frozen lake? I rode out on the ice in a vehicle for the first time this winter. I have walked on a lake, helped the guys fish, a little, on the frozen water, and I've skated. But, riding in a heavy vehicle on top of a deep lake...that's a moment to remember. And, for you folks reading this in warmer climates. The lakes really do freeze hard enough to drive on them. One of my favorite books North of Hope by Jon Hassler has some great scenes on the frozen waters of Minnesota.
May your January give you inspiration to make tracks into the new year!
Go. Create. Inspire!
Journaling Prompt: How do you really feel about January? Would you dare walk out onto the frozen lake, or ride on it?
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