Circles

Eighteen years ago, I was on a flight from New York to Düsseldorf, looking forward to spending Valentine’s Day in Rome. Reality, however, had other plans, and instead of romance there was theology at the Vatican with a Catholic priest whom I had befriended a few years earlier in Vienna.

With Valentine’s once again proving to be a rough ride, my cold worsened overnight, and the day brought a series of small mishaps and forgotten gloves – only slightly mitigated by a semla in the brilliant sunshine. With the sun now climbing ten degrees higher than at the winter solstice, its rays are at least beginning to warm.