Here’s a shout out to my family, friends and fans living on the East Coast. You all expecting another “storm of the century” and I’m a little bit jealous of you. Just a little bit, you understand, I’m not totally crazy.
I’ve been wondering this winter how I can get the winter blues so badly in an area that has 6 weeks of coldish weather and no snow. I spent the majority of my life (we are talking decades) in the state of Maine where winter starts in October and ends in May. I didn’t get winter blues until April. What’s the deal?
I think I know the answer. Actually, the answers since I have hit upon three reasons. The first is the no snow bit- snow is the beautiful gift God gives to the earth to cover her nakedness. Seeing the clean, diamond sparkle of a new snow is breathtaking. The naked, barren earth is depressing to see for weeks on end. It is ugly!
Secondly, yes, there are several days of cloudy skies expected around a storm but when the storm is over the sun comes out to shine on the sparkles and brag about the earth’s new accessory. There are days and days of incredible blue skies and sun that reflecting off all that whiteness can actually hurt your eyes. Here in our desert like part of eastern Oregon, we don’t get the snow or much of the rain but we do get the gray lifeless sky for weeks on end. It’s a lifeless sky reflecting on a lifeless earth.
And the third reason that my six weeks of winter here seem to last so much longer than months back home is the very fact that we don’t have any snowstorms. Winter time seems to pass so much quicker when you are in a type of survival mode. There is always plenty to do in between storms to get ready for the next one. The excited scurrying and bustling about as everyone prepares, the checking on older neighbors before and after a storm, even the digging out afterwards lends a sense of purpose to one’s days.
Here I play a waiting game. We wait and wait and wait for spring to come. We’ve made it through the holidays and January is one big dull gray month of nothingness. It’s not really long enough to take on a big project because in a few weeks it will be time to tend the flowerbeds.
And so this weekend during the “storm of the century” enjoy the excitement of hunkering in waiting for the power to go out. Enjoy the candles and board games and other things that only a storm can make you stop and do. It is God’s way of making us stop long enough to appreciate what is truly important in our lives. And remember that there is at least one displaced Mainer wishing she was there. That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?
I’ve been wondering this winter how I can get the winter blues so badly in an area that has 6 weeks of coldish weather and no snow. I spent the majority of my life (we are talking decades) in the state of Maine where winter starts in October and ends in May. I didn’t get winter blues until April. What’s the deal?
I think I know the answer. Actually, the answers since I have hit upon three reasons. The first is the no snow bit- snow is the beautiful gift God gives to the earth to cover her nakedness. Seeing the clean, diamond sparkle of a new snow is breathtaking. The naked, barren earth is depressing to see for weeks on end. It is ugly!
Secondly, yes, there are several days of cloudy skies expected around a storm but when the storm is over the sun comes out to shine on the sparkles and brag about the earth’s new accessory. There are days and days of incredible blue skies and sun that reflecting off all that whiteness can actually hurt your eyes. Here in our desert like part of eastern Oregon, we don’t get the snow or much of the rain but we do get the gray lifeless sky for weeks on end. It’s a lifeless sky reflecting on a lifeless earth.
And the third reason that my six weeks of winter here seem to last so much longer than months back home is the very fact that we don’t have any snowstorms. Winter time seems to pass so much quicker when you are in a type of survival mode. There is always plenty to do in between storms to get ready for the next one. The excited scurrying and bustling about as everyone prepares, the checking on older neighbors before and after a storm, even the digging out afterwards lends a sense of purpose to one’s days.
Here I play a waiting game. We wait and wait and wait for spring to come. We’ve made it through the holidays and January is one big dull gray month of nothingness. It’s not really long enough to take on a big project because in a few weeks it will be time to tend the flowerbeds.
And so this weekend during the “storm of the century” enjoy the excitement of hunkering in waiting for the power to go out. Enjoy the candles and board games and other things that only a storm can make you stop and do. It is God’s way of making us stop long enough to appreciate what is truly important in our lives. And remember that there is at least one displaced Mainer wishing she was there. That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?
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