I looked at the weather report for today and tomorrow, and it predicts snow, and lots of it. Where I live, we get snow and it melts in three days. Normally, all you have to do is hunker in a little and wait for the snow trucks and the sun to do their work.
It isn't the snow that gets me down; it is the icy wind that sometimes accompanies the storm, turning your cheeks red and making your eyes water. That's when having a memory of your last trip to a sunny beach is handy.
My husband and I went to Hawaii earlier this year. We left just as a snowstorm was predicted here at home. Yes, I felt sad for family and friends we were leaving behind, but not enough to stay.
Because of health issues, we haven't been able to travel as much as my husband would like. So after we had spent a week in his happy place, I practically had to drag him on the plane to go home.
A friend told me once that one of the most common phrases in the Bible is, "and it came to pass". She said it was a good reminder for living a balanced life. If you're in a good place and enjoying all around you, remember, it will pass. That's sad, but the corollary is true too. If you are going through some bad times and nothing works out as you'd wish it to, it too will pass.
Once you make friends with the transient nature of life, it makes you savor the good times more and remember the bad things will not last forever. We have friends who escape to the south as soon as the first snowflake falls, and return to us in the summer when it's warm during the day and cool in the evening.
So now we are headed to Tucson and Pheonix to visit some family and friends. We'll have to wait for the snow to come and melt, but it will pass, and I am looking forward to some more sun to warm my bones. The trip won't last forever, but the memory will.
I think that's the takeaway. Live your life like you're stringing beads on a line. Concentrate on making happy memories to cling to when the clouds come.
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