Snowy January Day

Christmas is over and the tree is on the back patio covered in six inches of snow. A piece of silver tinsel has broken free of its white cocoon and is flying around in the wind, a remnant of a our joyous holiday. What a beautiful Christmas it was. I'm grateful for the lovely memories.

This is the time of year when I seem to fall off the face of the earth. I struggle to stay upright in January. If I had my way I'd stay in bed reading all day in my pajamas drinking tea and eating whatever I wanted. But that's bad for me emotionally and physically. Intellectually I know this. But I can't help wanting to swaddle myself in covers and avoid the world.

That's how I felt yesterday. The world was not a happy place. Then I awoke to an email from a long-lost friend in Madison, Wisconsin. She told me she found me through this blog and that she enjoyed reading it. That kept me from wanting to go back to bed for the first time since January 1. Thanks, Pat. It also made me want to write in the blog instead of going back to bed. This is a major victory!!!!

Pat filled me in on Sally, her daughter, who is 16 now. I started babysitting Sally when she was six weeks old. Now she is a brilliant mathematician (yes the 16-year old) and attending college as a sophomore in high school. Blow me away. Does Sally know that I can't do math past the sixth grade if my life depended on it? Please don't tell her, Pat. Tell her I have other virtues.

So January . . .tons of snow and frigid temperatures. I don't remember having this much snow in the past 10 years. How do we make it through to March? This is how I plan to do it:

Thinking about a fun vacation. We're going to NYC (all six of us) in April! My sister and brother in law live in Manhattan and we will stay with them. Darren purchased tickets to Wicked today. The Red Sox are playing the Yankess when we are there as well. Darren is willing to sell his soul to see this game. There is much to look forward too. An entire week in NYC doesn't come around every day.

Substituting at the elementary school for 4-6 weeks while one of the teachers is on maternity leave. Working for six hours a day will definitely drive the doldrums away. It will also pay for our trip to New York. Well, part of it anyway. It will at least pay for Wicked and the Red Sox game!

Feeling so blessed that my sister and her family are moving back to Utah after having lived everywhere but for the past 15 years. Our children can be cousins and have fun getting to know each other. We can spend holidays together--wow Thanksgiving and Christmas with my side of the family, that's a first in many, many years!

Celebrating my 20th wedding anniversary in August. I don't know what we'll do, but it will be fun celebrating such a milestone.

Going to the cabin in Montana with family. We didn't go last year but we're going this year. Now that the kids are older, it will be even more enjoyable. Yes it will, Darren.

Thinking about what I accomplished last year. It wasn't a shabby year, goal-wise. I did (surprisingly) well at many of my goals. For this I am proud.

I am not going back to bed. I am going to go shower and go be duty guard in the frigid cold. It that doesn't keep my mind alert and functioning, nothing will!