The Long Winter

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We went to visit an older couple in our church yesterday afternoon who live right on Lake Ontario. I was able to take some pictures of the lake and it was beautiful.  As we were visiting we heard a huge bang and they told us that was the ice chunks hitting together.  Amazing!

 Sometimes, I think I'm a wimp that can't handle the winter but they did tell us yesterday that this is one of the worst winters they ever remember having here so that made me feel a bit better.

I've really been battling my emotions this winter. I don't let it keep me down, but I do struggle each day with vague feelings of anxiety and melancholy. Some of it I'm sure is the fact that I've entered into menopause. Some of it is all of the sudden having an adult son at home who is dealing with the uncertainty of his future. Some of it is having my youngest out of the home and becoming very independent, very quickly. And some of it is that there has been very little sunshine in a couple of months.  

I went to the gym with Dan yesterday afternoon for the first time in a very long time and that really helped.  I'm going to have to make getting out a habit because that does lift my spirits. Besides, "exercise at least three days a week" is on my to-do list. lol

Soon I'll be entering my very busy time of the year and that always keeps me looking forward to each day. Hah! Most of the year is my busy time of the year, but January-March are generally very slow, very cloudy and snowy and very hard to get through. It reminds me of the book, The Long Winter, by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  And I really shouldn't complain because I'm NOT snowed in on the prairie. :-)

I put together my schedule for the next few months and it looks like this:

January 27 - all day seminar
Feb. 2-4 - teen retreat at our district's camp.  I'm taking a group of 8 teens.
April - district meeting and then later in the month, weekend ladies retreat
May - district prayer conference
June - national leadership team meeting in Colorado Springs and then our district leadership retreat the following weekend.
July - district family camp
August - new official worker training in Colorado Springs
September - district ladies retreat
October - national ladies retreat in Lancaster, PA. and then an all day seminar

That doesn't include my own church activities, and three of those events above are things that I'm organizing and planning.  I have a feeling that about August, I'm going to be wishing for a long, long winter!

So, I'm really not complaining about the snow. After all, it's winter and it's supposed to be cold and snowy. I'm just looking for those little spots in each day when I can get a bit of fresh air and look for the things that rejuvenate my spirits.

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