Reminding Myself

....that in the middle of all this bleak chill and snow and ice and fatigue and frustration, there are things I love about winter.

I love the way that falling snow seems to bring a hush to the world.

I love the way the first sip of hot tea feels in the cold weather, painting a stripe of warmth and life as you swallow it.

I love the stark, austere beauty of the world after ice and snow, before traffic and muck mar it all - white ground, black fingers of tree limbs against a silver sky, everything edged in crystals and more white. Landscapes like that make me understand the appeal of diamonds, reminding me of the colors and light trapped in things that seem colorless.

I love being able to cook and bake without worrying about overheating the house, and I love winter food. Chili and soup and stew and lasagna, all the things that are too hot and heavy to eat in the summer.

I love curling up next to my husband at night, under a pile of quilts and afghans made for us by friends and loved ones, and falling asleep in the circle of his arms as he keeps me warm.

I love my huge, battered, grotesquely-oversized crocheted house sweater.

I love the way that the first 50-degree day will feel like a delightfully, short-sleeves-y warm gift, instead of the frigid harbinger of doom that it did in October.

I've had enough winter, and I'm more than ready for short sleeves and gardening and ice cream, but it's good to remind myself, when I'm feeling like this, that it isn't all bad.

How about you - anything redeemable about the season at your end?


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