small, that's all

some days, it takes me until quite late to start
and often that is because i am waiting to really & truly be alone

today,
as i was waiting for today
i experienced a number of things that i should take as signs
that it's time to pull inside,
time to hibernate,
time to really & truly be alone

i could bore you with the minutiae that set me on edge today,
the petty frustrations,
the uncomfortable discoveries,
the reality of commitments not yet addressed
but instead i'll just share something i read recently by david sedaris:

Pat was driving, and as we passed the turnoff for a shopping center she invited us to picture a four-burner stove.

“Gas or electric?” Hugh asked, and she said that it didn’t matter.

This was not a real stove but a symbolic one, used to prove a point at a management seminar she’d once attended. “One burner represents your family, one is your friends, the third is your health, and the fourth is your work.” The gist, she said, was that in order to be successful you have to cut off one of your burners. And in order to be really successful you have to cut off two.

hmmmmmmmmmm...
i truly believe this;
i think you can be successful at friends, family and health all at the same time
but throw work into the mix
and something's got to give

it's already dark
and it's cold
i'm flipping that little switch
and turning some things off