COUNTING BLESSINGS

The Longest Day, a 1962 movie about the D-Day Normandy invasion flashed through my consciousness. Smug smirk on my face, I snickered, That's it! I'll title this blog, "The Longest Winter".  My two surgeries in January and March had deprived Jim and I of a southern escape during what proved to be the longest Canadian winter in my memory.  Add to that, seven weeks of medically imposed relative inactivity and, stir-crazy, I was eager to wallow in self pity.  The bleak view from our front window of dirty, still unmelted mounds of snow, dusty, sand-covered roads, and gray, lifeless trees added fuel to my gloomy mood. Like the Grinch, I would indulge myself and share my misery with one and all.

As I mentally reviewed my hiems horriblis in preparation for penning the colossal pity party rant, all self-centered thoughts suddenly evaporated. On January 27, Shelley, the owner of Blue Heron Books, was involved in a horrific car accident. Shelley survived, but remains in rehab, struggling to regain her strength and her return to regular life.  So much for bemoaning seven weeks of relative inactivity. How blessed I am to be mobile.  Our dear friend, John, succumbed on February 9 to a cancer that was mistakenly diagnosed as an unrelated ailment until, at Stage 4 and beyond the point of no return, it was discovered. How can I rant when I remain alive and well. One of our morning swimming ladies, Sandi, was in England this month, nursing a friend, when she received news that her home had been destroyed by fire, a fire that disastrously took the life of her husband and three family pets. Sandi returned to Goodwood with nothing but the clothes in her suitcase. The sheer scope of Sandi's tragedy remains beyond my comprehension.  And to think I was set to complain. I am blessed to be sitting across from my husband in a home filled with love and memories.

My life should be filled with gratitude.  I am so very blessed.  It has indeed been an endless winter through which to live, but it sure beats the alternative. Now humiliated and supremely annoyed that I permitted my self indulgent dark side to consume my mind for even a nano second, I scream silently, Get over yourself! I return my gaze to the view from our front window - a view of now melting snow drifts, roads finally free of ice and trees emerging from their wintry rest, all foreshadowing our spring to come. Spring brings life and I am blessed to witness her return.

Snoopy was right when he so wisely said, Keep looking up....that's the secret of life.