#19 Places of Rest

This year, I'm going to spend 31 days writing about places.  In my profession, I talk about place-based writing quite a bit.  I frame it like this when I share:  We believe in the power of including spaces in the process of writing.  Place-based writing is the concept that the place where we write may influence our thinking, impacting the writer’s perspective, engagement, ownership, and/or purpose.  I'm really jazzed up, thinking about where I will spend time as a writer in 31 different spaces this month and how I can use each post to share a little slice of my day. 

Today, a double whammy.

My hubby normally gets up at 4 am.  He likes to read, drink coffee, and run before going to work.  But, this week, he's on spring break.  It's confused the dogs quite a bit.  Especially with the chaos of daylight savings time change so recently.  They're used to being let out at four and then enjoying a jerky treat.

I did morning dog duty today so he could sleep in.   There's three of them, and I couldn't sleep through their tiny little whimpers.  It's still dark here till nearly 7 AM, so I thought I'd try to go back to sleep.  My brain thought otherwise.  It started rambling through the day's tasks and wandering into all kinds of places in my brain.  This kind of behavior used to make me get up and just get busy with the day.  But about a year ago, I took a new approach.  

I'm a lady who wakes with the sun.  If I get up when it's still dark out, I'm generally grumpy.  So, I decided that in winter, I would just let myself lay in bed till it was light.  No judgement about all of the tasks I could be doing since I was awake.  I told myself even if my brain was awake, my body still needed rest.  I needed that reminder today, on this last day of winter!  

I found this artist, Elaine Choi, recently, and I wonder if she feels the same way I do about snuggling into rest with three puppy dogs.  

Anyways, my mind relaxed and I fell back asleep until the sun came up.  Then I took the dogs for our daily walk at the park and rejuvenated even more.  I'm so grateful for these quiet parts of my day, and in the act of writing this, I wonder if my peace comes more from my three pups than the places that bring me rest and rejuvenation.  They make my big comfy bed and my daily visits to the park a whole different experience.  Hmmm.