March 2025 SOLC–Day 31
A huge thank you to Two Writing Teachers for all that they do to create an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write, learn, share and grow.
http://www.twowritingteachers.org

I just finished reading “The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year” by Margaret Renkl. It’s been my companion for weeks and weeks now. It was my “breakfast book”–the one I read every day before school while I’m eating my cereal. Knowing I could turn to Margaret Renkl’s eloquent words each morning was a gift, and I turned the last page with thanks and sorrow. I will miss it.

Finishing Renkl’s book on the last day of the challenge feels particularly appropriate, as participating in the challenge has been a gift as well. This has been a year when being a part of a supportive community has felt more necessary than ever. At times, it’s been like putting on an oxygen mask. I know I can come here and breathe.

This was my eleventh year participating, and I always have such mixed feelings when the month ends. To be honest, first there’s a rush of relief. Oh, no slice to ponder over today! But then there’s regret–I wish I’d read more, commented more, had time to linger and learn. Each post I’ve read has enriched me in some way or another. Sometimes it’s a turn of phrase, or a new perspective. Sometimes it’s a shared feeling or a new connection. And I know, even as I celebrate its end, that I will miss it, too.

As I read “The Comfort of Crows”, I highlighted and underlined along the way. Sometimes I simply wrote “Yes! This whole chapter!” (It really is fabulous, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.) Renkl ends her book with these words: “I am far from feeling any confidence in the future, but when I look at the busy tableau before me, something flutters inside — something that feels just a little bit like hope.”

Obviously, she was not referring to writing in the Slice of Life Challenge, but those words sum it up for me quite nicely. Looking at this tablueau–at all of you, at all of us, sharing our lives, our highs, our lows, our dreams and our sorrows in this community– is, ultimately, hopeful. In a time of division and schism, we’ve opted to take the time to make connections. Right now, that truly is priceless.

Margaret Renkl also wrote, “If you never close your thumb around your fingers, you will make of your hand a sanctuary. You will make of your hand safe passage to the world.” Her reference was the natural world, but it occurs to me, that as we type or write with pen or pencil, our hands are cupped or open. There are no fists here.

So, thanks to all of you for building this community and a heartfelt thanks to TWT for the opportunity to do so. It’s been a privilege to write alongside all of you this month. I hope I’ll see you on some upcoming Tuesdays (although maybe not tomorrow! lol). Be well and thank you.