I’m not going to lie, I hate this time of year!
At the risk of truly overstating the obvious, it’s cold, dark and lonely. In fact, I've always thought those gray days between the holidays and spring should have their own designated season with names reflecting my personal mood and state-of-mind like: “Cold-to-the-Bone,” “Dark & Dreary,” “OMG” or even “The Season of Enuff's-Enuff.” (A little Seussical.)
I mean, it just gets to a point when layering sweaters, sweatshirts, socks, jackets, mittens and other winter clothing becomes a monumental and claustrophobic task.
Example: Prior to taking a Jeffrey Woods walk with my husband the other day, I sat motionless in a stupefied stare before forcing myself out of the car into sub-freezing temperatures that I knew would cause mind-numbing pain in my fingers, toes and nose within a matter of minutes.
At the risk of truly overstating the obvious, it’s cold, dark and lonely. In fact, I've always thought those gray days between the holidays and spring should have their own designated season with names reflecting my personal mood and state-of-mind like: “Cold-to-the-Bone,” “Dark & Dreary,” “OMG” or even “The Season of Enuff's-Enuff.” (A little Seussical.)
I mean, it just gets to a point when layering sweaters, sweatshirts, socks, jackets, mittens and other winter clothing becomes a monumental and claustrophobic task.
Example: Prior to taking a Jeffrey Woods walk with my husband the other day, I sat motionless in a stupefied stare before forcing myself out of the car into sub-freezing temperatures that I knew would cause mind-numbing pain in my fingers, toes and nose within a matter of minutes.
But this's where it gets interesting. It’s just this fact of hating winter that makes me trudge out and search for the MAGIC that hibernated in a hollow log, hid under the dirt and leaf litter or flew away south with the robins.
And ironically - I somehow always find it!
And what's more, the "wonders of nature" are not usually the big stuff like a mountain elk or a grizzly bear that rock my world, but the small things like a flock of screaming crows, a crinkly dried flower, twinkling nighttime snowflakes or a hungry, hungry squirrel.
Throughout the years I've learned that beauty is abundant and one must retrain the brain to discover and appreciate it ~ even in the season of Enuff's-Enuff.
And ironically - I somehow always find it!
And what's more, the "wonders of nature" are not usually the big stuff like a mountain elk or a grizzly bear that rock my world, but the small things like a flock of screaming crows, a crinkly dried flower, twinkling nighttime snowflakes or a hungry, hungry squirrel.
Throughout the years I've learned that beauty is abundant and one must retrain the brain to discover and appreciate it ~ even in the season of Enuff's-Enuff.