When we moved The Sun office last summer, I thought it would take a few weeks to get set up in our new location. How naive of me.
It wasn’t until we unpacked all the boxes that I realized what we’d left behind: the familiar arrangement of things; the intangibles that make a place home; the way the light from a certain window moves across a desk as the afternoon lengthens; the invisible roots every object sends out, connecting it to everything else. Moving was simple, but moving in will take months, perhaps years.
I couldn’t accept this at first. In love with the promise of 107 North Roberson, I wanted to translate that promise instantly. I rushed from room to room, trying to make everything just right. But I didn’t really know this old house yet, in all its moods and seasons; I hadn’t sat on the front porch during a rainstorm, or looked out my second-story window at falling snow. I forgot that this relationship was like any other: jumping into bed with someone is easy; getting to know and love that person takes time.
Finally, I saw that my impatience was making me miserable. I was so obsessed with the shelves we hadn’t built yet and the ferns we hadn’t hung that I’d turned the blessing of moving into a burden. I’d stopped appreciating simply being here, in this lovely building I’d long admired.
The irony wasn’t lost on me. If The Sun exists to celebrate who we really are, in all our moods and seasons, it also reminds us not to take anything for granted. As we all sometimes do, I needed the reminder.
Perhaps you know someone who would value the gentle nudge The Sun gives its readers each month, with writing that speaks, thoughtfully and personally, to our amazing forgetfulness.
This year, once again, we’re offering Christmas gift subscriptions at significant savings.
A one-year subscription is $28. For each additional subscription, you save money. The second subscription is $22. The third is $15. The fourth is $10. The fifth is $5. A total of five gift subscriptions is $80 — a savings of $60 off the regular price. If you want more than five subscriptions, you can order additional ones at $15. (Sorry, but we can’t renew your own subscription as part of this offer.)
We’ll send gift cards to everyone for whom you order a subscription so they’ll arrive before Christmas.
Write to Christmas Subscriptions, The Sun, 107 North Roberson Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27516. Please include payment. (If you don’t want to tear out this page, you can send a photocopy, or simply write out the order.)
— Sy Safransky
