The Shortest of Days

The first day of winter is really the end of the year

For as long as I can remember, the winter solstice has saddened me. There is nothing logical about the melancholy. In fact, it runs emotionally polar to the historic cultural observations of this hibernal moment, which typically were merry affairs celebrating the last of the sun’s annual shrinkage, the hopeful turning from the interminable nights toward the lengthening days…