Day 63 - Caturday

 Today is the 7th day of the 9th week, the 4th day of the 3rd month, the 63rd day of 2023, and:

• Benjamin Harrison Day
• Brain Injury Awareness Day
• Courageous Follower Day
• Holy Experiment Day
• Hug a GI Day
• Iditarod [first Saturday of March]
• International GM's Day
• International Open Data Day
• International Scrapbooking Industry Day
• March Forth [AKA Do Something Day]
• Marching Music Day
• National Backcountry Ski Day
• National Dance the Waltz Day
• National Frozen Food Day
• National Grammar Day
• National Play Outside Day
• National Pound Cake Day
• National Snack Day
• National Sons Day
• Old Inauguration Day [of US presidents]
• Sock Monkey Day
• Toy Soldier Day
• World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development
• World Information Architecture Day
• World Obesity Day

Astronomy picture of the day: one of the pictures of the conjunction of the two brightest planets in the skies from this collection.  

For 10 days, Jupiter and Venus dancing through the skies
towards each other at sunset

"you are quiet" 

I never understand when I am told that I am getting quiet -- but I have learned that apparently I am seen/heard as a chatty person.  I do know that if there is no one about to talk to, I used to talk to myself, or sing - and through the years I have learned that when I cease doing that, it is usually a bad sign indicating that I am ill in mind or spirit or body.  And so, when I say it to another, it means that I am worried about them.  I have found that in relationships I thrive on the buzz and sound of others' thoughts.   I love asking questions and getting to know someone, delving into how they think and feel and understanding why they do the things that they do.  When they view my interest as intrusive, when they stop responding, it can cut me to the quick.   Want to ensure that I will lose my temper completely?  Hang up on me.  Want to put distance between us?  Stop answering my questions, stop sharing, stop responding to emails/IM/text/hail.  It might take me a bit, but then I know the connection has been thinned or severed, and boundaries set for the relationship

One thing that I have learned, finally, is that being quiet is different from being silent, a distinction that can be lost as the two words tend to be used interchangeably and one that I think I often failed to make when I was younger.  One of my favorite books, and one that I reread often around this time of year, is 'The Chosen' by Chaim Potok, where silence is used to teach, to prevent a brilliant person from becoming "a mind without a soul".  I can be quiet, and indeed have learned to appreciate and seek it out at times.  I tend not to have silence about me as my tinnitus has worsened in my later years and I have found that music playing in the background helps negate the sound of the ringing in my ears.   But there are times when my mind or heart is so full that I need that as well

There is a great deal of noise pollution hereabouts - cars on the road, sirens in the distance, people sounds drifting in from the hallway or up from balconies or from kids playing outside, appliances working, the clicking of my keyboard as I type these words, the sounds my only body makes.  While I have experienced quiet, I don't think I have ever experienced total silence; indeed absolute silence is apparently impossible.

And on that note, I'll be quiet now....