Bad Weather

My husband, a federal employee, shared a job listing that came across his desk the other day. The position is in Colorado, where they are said to average 300 days of sunshine per year. Sitting here next to the wood stove, wrapped in a blanket and listening to the pellet of sleet and freezing rain against the windows, I am sorely tempted to insist that he apply.

The weather is in news a lot these days, as if there hasn't always been weather. We are actually having a milder than usual winter in our neck of the Northeast, but much of the coast was recently buried in record snowfalls. Hurricanes, floods, drought - as devastating as these can be, they have always been around to remind us that we are just a tiny part of the big picture. Perhaps we as a species have contributed to the extremes making headlines, but until we grow smart (and arrogant) enough to control the weather at will, we should learn to grin and bear it.   

Our family won't be moving to Colorado any time soon. Instead, I will step outside and revel in the beauty of whatever awaits me here. Today it is raw, wild and tempestuous, slapping my cheeks with the cold, tear-wet hand of a scorned lover. Tomorrow we will have sunshine and soooo much mud............. for making mud pies! And later in the week, there will be frozen puddles to crunch as I take my morning walk, bundled up like an Arctic explorer.

Oh, the beauty, the grandeur of it all!