“It began in mystery, and it will end in mystery, but what a savage and beautiful country lies in between.”
–Diane Ackerman
When I let the dog outside to play in the backyard last night, huge flakes of snow were falling from the sky again as icy wind drove in from the river. I was cold and cranky (again) and, though the dog was wagging his tail in hopes of convincing me to join him to throw his tennis ball, I shut the door quickly. I thought: there is no way I am going out in that tonight. But as I heated up water for tea and got ready to snuggle in on the sofa for a few episodes of The West Wing on Netflix, I thought about all of those people who don’t have the luxury of not going out in that tonight. Toll collectors who sit in frigid booths along the thruway, night nurses, 24-hour convenience store gas station attendants, cab drivers. As I was putting on my slippers all those folks were heading out into that dark, cold night to work. Pretty fortunate am I.
Time to stop complaining so much about this weather and start looking for the beauty within its savageness. And, really, its not all that difficult to find.
