TRYING TO APPRECIATE

Dear Spike:

Where we live, winter always recedes for a week in March, only to stage an encore late in the month, as it is today. It happens every year, and every year we act as though we've been the victims of a bad practical joke.

Sure, the joke's on us, but we're our own pranksters. The sun comes out. Our spring clothes come out. Our jackets are closeted. The furnace is turned off.

And then the snow returns. And we scramble like bears who came out of hibernation too soon.

Spring will be here soon, and I'm eagerly awaiting that time. It seems as though it has been a very long winter and I'm ready to feel as though my bones have finally thawed.

But given that the choice is not mine, right now I'm trying to appreciate the beauty of our winter. The delicate line of snow on the branches of the tree outside our home. The small clouds of breath, yours and mine, that mingle in the frigid morning air. The mountains, white as a storybook picture, that emerge on the horizon each afternoon as the morning storms clear.

You can't always have what you want, when you want it.

But try to appreciate what you have. It'll make the waiting easier.

Love,
dad