Michaelmas

Little sweetheart, today is the Feast of St Michael, also known as Michaelmas.

I didn’t even know about it until last year when I read something from The Cloisters - that wonderful medieval art wing of The Met that we like to visit way up in Fort Tryon Park  - in a email. By the time I saw it, it was September 30th, the day after and I’d missed it. But I read up on it and discovered that in more ancient times it used to observed on Oct 11, so I observed it myself, then - ha! Today, having marked it on my calendar beforehand, I had a chance to do so properly.

It’s a feast day, so I made a cake (!) which I’m sharing with the neighbors and later I’ll roast a chicken. In the lightest sense, I’ve jokingly said that I’m celebrating Michaelmas in all my michael-ness. But in the truer, deeper, richer sense, it’s a day of contemplation and thoughtfulness and prayer.

I didn’t get out of the house early enough for my run so I took a long walk up in Riverside Park to listen to the birdsong and watch for butterflies - both things always bring me close to you. I listened to Electric Hymnal this afternoon and again tonight. I told your mom and dad about it and heard back from each of them. Your dad remembered that you and your brother used to observe Michaelmas when you were little kids at The Waldorf School and it made him curious, having remembered that, so he looked up the holiday and sent me a text about what he found online. Your mom loved that I remembered and that had, “quite rightly”, she said baked a cake.

I didn’t grow up Catholic or Episcopal, so I never knew too much about the saints until later in life when the sacred became more intriguing and after your tragic passing desperately necessary to me. I mentioned this to a friend of mine who works at a wonderful church way downtown, I mentioned it before, Trinity Church, not far from the former Trade Center towers, and she suggested I read more of the mystics, if I hadn’t already. So, I’ve bookmarked the works of a few including Julian of Norwich and Hildegard of Bingen (who was also a composer) to look into.

Meantime, I’ve another day to look forward to. To quiet down and listen for your celestial, guiding presence. And to do better. With love and gratitude and quiet prayers. With all my love forever.