Winter Solstice And A Double Planet Conjunction

It is Winter Solstice today, officially the first day of winter and a very rare astronomical event happening too. Not only is today officially the shortest day of the year in terms of sunlight, three is also the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter later on tonight that only happens in a few hundred years. Such a confluence makes the appearance of a huge bright star... hmmm like possibly the one that was described by the Three Kings in the Nativity Story?  Hence it's being called the Christmas Star event in some circles. Then again everything has a scientific explanation right? As far as all astronomical events there is always a metaphysical connection and interpretation as well. This one is supposed to usher in significant change globally both in terms of social and cultural norms. Might we finally go back to more of taking care of each other instead of this me-me-me thing that seems to have bubbled to the surface in these Trump years? In any case, this week is also a short week and especially since I took Thursday Christmas Eve off, which means I only have 3 work days.  In the meantime, it surely did not escape me or anyone else in our Business Continuity the sound of overwhelm and frustration coming from our Health Center Managers as the clinics are starting to get overrun. And when that happens and patience starts to run short and mistakes start to happen, it's incumbent upon our leadership to calm the waters. I offered whatever help I could from a tech standpoint. But I think it's more on the providers to show a little flexibility and a can-do attitude. So after I got through the Business Continuity meeting first thing, I focused squarely on getting my steps in and keeping up the heavy exercise day that Monday has become over the past couple of months or so. The short week means I do have lots to work on actually. Several contracts due, dozens of invoices needing my approval and trying to shore up the Data Analytics function... while actually reminding myself that I still do have an internal routine I need to maintain as well. This morning I did a quick Tai Chi routine to calm down actually, sensing that I was already tensing up. And even though I didn't actually get to shower until it was already well past 9 AM, at least I did that. I mean I hadn't showered since Thursday morning. Eezy and relaxed is one thing, stinking up myself is quite another. And it did feel good to clean up. Before I even had lunch I made it a point to go outside and enjoy the sun, this being another nice day and all. It's almost Christmas and I'm walking around outside with no layers on whatsoever. It's actually warm out even. As if the point is being hammered that this is no ordinary Christmas holiday season.  

Anyway I let the rest of the afternoon sort of cruise on by and before I knew it it was already time to pick up Johnnie for my turn this week. I hadn't seen him all weekend since Friday afternoon for the first time in a while and even then I'm already going to be seeing him much more than I did last year during the holidays. Which is why i didn't really even make an effort to see what mom and son were doing this weekend. Better just to let Lisa have her time with him alone I thought. I mean I wouldn't want her horning in during my time with him during the week. And when I did pick him up, all these things that she did inside of 15 minutes reminded me why. She was getting Johnnie to finally pick up after his toys, knowing full well I'd be there at 5:30. She bugged about the pair of jeans that I chose for him to wear since they weren't skinny enough. I didn't want to tell her that skinny jeans are no longer the "thing". And I had purchased these jeans from H&M too. And then I had to listen to her forecast her week. Actually that was important because I don't even know what her Christmas Day plans were. I assumed she's going to visit her family and taking Johnnie with her. And that's ok. I was supposed to bring Johnnie back on Christmas Eve around lunchtime and that's already more than I could ask. This week just becomes like a regular week and I'm satisfied with that. In the meantime, as soon as we get in to my apartment Johnnie morphed into the dinosaur-watching mad drawing kid that he is when he's around me. And since I had actually had a usual heavy exercise day today, I was out like a light before 10 PM. All good. One day down, a couple left to go for the week.