Winter Musings

It's snowing just now. Those tiny flakes that come down at an angle and are sometimes hard to see. I think this might be good, the snow, for the Special Olympics happening here in Boise this very week. For me it is just another day in a winter that has seemed long. It's no wonder people associate winter with death. Well, I didn't mean to go there. Let me just say that long winters can be hard on the soul, which is why people I know run away to Arizona or St George, Utah, or Honolulu.

True, we're past December with its short days and long dark nights, and we have enjoyed some blue skies, some warmth, as January finally gave way to February. But we knew all along those days were, as my mother would say, only a lick and a promise. The groundhog saw his shadow last week; his promise was six more weeks of winter.

"You are the promised kiss of springtime that makes the lonely winter seem long." An old song.

Those sunny days, what a gift. They were right for going outside to play or for taking a walk around the neighborhood. Folks here did that. My grandsons did that. So did I. But perhaps those blue-sky days make a day like this one a bit harder to bear. We thought about planting spring flowers in the pots out front, about putting the snow shovel out of sight, about the return of birds. We let down our winter toughness a little too much and have to build it back up to get through today.

But I sit here in a warm house, healthy and safe, and I have every assurance that spring will come. I can see this day differently without much effort. Like, this is a fine day for puttering around the house, getting this or that finished up, taking a twenty-minute nap (go here, #2), wrapping my hands around a cup of hot homemade soup. It's still snowing, but, actually, winter has only a five-week hold on us now. We can take it. Right?