So, it’s a beautiful day - the sun is shining again, and I want to get out and feel the sun on my face.  But I’m hurting so badly today, I don’t know if I will.

I have a herniated disc in my neck due to a car accident several years ago, and it seems to flare up at the most inopportune times.

And my new walking shoes finally arrived today…insult to injury…(meanwhile, I’m on a sadistic diet that has taken away my coffee….and, well, ALL enjoyable food in general - but I digress).  Who knew that I would spend most of my adult life UNDERWEIGHT, and then wake up one day with almost 30 lbs. to lose!!

As you may can tell I’m a tad bit grouchy today.  I really would like to lie in bed and cry…

But, there is a horrendous refrigerator to clean out and my bathroom looks like a crime scene, and Byron said something about needing to go to Ikea….

Oh well, I have many things to be thankful for, and maybe later I’ll sit on the front porch and watch the world go by.

Tomorrow is a new day, I suppose - and I plan to greet it one way or another...

…maybe just with my head tilted slightly to the right.

Peace.

…to see the sun.

I know I really have nothing to complain about - I mean, I’ve lived in harsher climates (like Missouri - where we were snowed-in for 2 weeks with temps well below zero and Kentucky where I didn’t see the sun for 4 months!), and I realize I’m so acclimated to the Florida sun that if I go just days….not even weeks, but DAYS without seeing the sun, I begin to lose my mind.

I really should look into one of the lamps that people wear in Alaska…

I’ve been wishing for spring….for my songbirds to return.

In fact, a couple of days ago, I felt near tears over this weather…the bitter cold that I can’t seem to shake no matter what I do…and I was thinking about how I can’t wait to put seed in my bird feeder and watch the cardinals and bluebirds on my front porch - and plant bright and colorful flowers in my flower pots (which right now look like a cemetery….but I digress)…

Anyway, I was thinking of how I long to see the signs of spring, and we left to go pick up one child or the other from school - when I heard this horrible sound as I reached for the car door.  As I looked to the tree where the noise was coming from, I watched in horror as a huge hawk flew away with a tiny bluebird in its claws.

That’s how I feel about this winter…like it’s snatching away the beauty of this part of the world:  the sun, the flowers, the citrus, the birds…..

But, today the sun is shining at least, even though I’m still wearing gloves and a wool sweater and scarf INSIDE my house.

This cold is making me so weary, but THE SUN IS SHINING!

So, things are looking up, I guess.

Maybe it won’t be long until I have my wishes of songbirds and flowers in the pots on the front porch, and the harshness of winter will be just a memory.

Maybe….

At least I have things to hope for, and hope can warm the heart better than any wool scarf can any day.

So…

Peace.