A Sunny Day in February

I wrote the following post about a month ago, unsure if Spring would ever arrive. Looks like it's finally here.

This winter has been cold and snowy. In the Midwest, this is not uncommon. But this winter seems to have had more cold and more snow than usual. Many cities around the country are breaking records for largest annual snow fall accumulation. The ice and snow, and more ice, kept my kids out of school for four days, an unheard of number for their large metropolitan school district. Trying to dig out of the ice was next to impossible. I broke the garden spade while uncovering a six-inch-by-six-inch patch of sidewalk. My young son broke multiple garden tools while trying to hack away at the frozen tundra. And my hard-core, bike-everyday-even-in-the-winter husband broke the hoe and left multiple gash wounds on the wooden deck while trying to make a safe path to enter our home. It was literally weeks before the temperatures rose high enough for the inches of ice to thin enough to begin to melt. We, the collective “we” meaning ME, are usually very prompt at snow removal which was not the case with this ice storm.

Sometimes the weather is just too strong and there is nothing anyone can do except wait for the weather cycle to run its course.
After weeks of ice and cold, the arctic air stayed farther north and some “tropical Gulf air” came our way. Cheers and praise for 40 degrees! Black mountains piled in the middle of box store parking lots are slowly turning into hills and then pools. Pothole-ridden obstacle courses are challenging drivers. Track through every doorway where slush and water create slipping hazards for all who enter. All of these things are forgotten when I walk outside and feel the warm bright sunshine on my cheeks.
Driving down the street with sunglasses on and heated seat off, I notice the sidewalks again. I see the brown yards waiting to turn green. I see trees waiting for buds of leaves. Mother Nature has not forgotten us. Spring will come. I will see tulips and daffodils soon. Fresh air will flow through open windows in my now pseudo-air-tight old home. Bulky sweaters and turtle necks will move to the back of the closet to make way for t-shirts and skirts. Just one sunny day is all I needed to be reminded that the dark, cold, solitary days of winter will come to an end, and days filled with sunshine, warmth and friends will come again.

When someone is facing a crisis, his/her world often feels like the cold, long, dark winter months. Bad news often is piled on like snow storm, on top of ice storm, topped with a little more snow. There is often no way at all to shovel out, no matter how hard one tries. All the snow and ice removal methods they have previously used just don’t work, or break down. Thoughts that spring will come again and bleak harsh days will no longer be a norm are hard to fathom.

It does not seem fair that it often takes a hard time to appreciate the small things, but often seems as though that is the case. Maybe there is something you can do to be the sunshine for a friend today: a note, kind word or small token of your thoughts. I know there are still more cold and snowy days ahead, and those days will return next winter. But I remember spring and would not be able to appreciate those days as much without my iced- in winter.