Grateful

Those of you that live in the area know what a nasty few days we've had weather-wise. The meteorologists called it a "wintry mix" but it sure seemed more like the 9th circle of Dante's hell.

We had hear the ice storm was coming so I planned to get the bulk of the Christmas shopping done on Saturday. It was nasty but not too bad. But then on Sunday I realized that I hadn't paid enough attention to how low the juice supply was so knew I'd have to go out AGAIN and fork out another chunk of moolah to support the mini-muffins' juice habit. AND I decided I should take them because ONO was focused on getting the basement finished and I sure didn't want to interrupt that!

So, grumbling under my breath, I got the boys dressed in coats, hats mittens, shoes, socks, (and for Brennan pants and a shirt) which they protested vehemently, then got myself ready and out we went into the yuck. Very yuck.
(It wasn't this bad at our house.....I just thought the pic was kinda cool.)


We did the shopping, managed to avoid a number of major meltdowns and headed back out to the van. While the boys cried because they were cold and hungry, I put all the stuff into the van, getting cold and wet. Finally, into the car seats they went with more than minimal angry outbursts from yours truly. It was all just SO annoying! (I usually say something much more colorful but it's not appropriate here.)

This outing was really getting the best of me and I could sense the tough, icy tendrils of my SAD creeping up and planning a hijacking. It's a really desperate feeling.....sensing that the THING is almost upon you and feeling nearly defenseless against it. Fortunately (for me) while driving home I noticed two older women standing at a bus stop, with no warm jacket and no head covering. They were soaking wet and looked miserable. The tendrils slunk back just a little when I said to myself "at least you have a warm, dry van and don't have to stand waiting for a bus."

I got home and before dragging in the $100-plus of groceries in the house, I felt another wave of frustration and annoyance wash over me when I saw the inch of ice on our deck. In a huff I started chopping the ice off the deck and stairs so no one would fall and break their necks (namely me!) I'm chopping away and getting pretty ticked off by it, cursing the weather and winter in general and then, I'm not sure why, the truth of what I was actually doing occurred to me -- I'm chopping ice off of our deck, that we OWN, ourselves, and have friends over to enjoy our firepit on, and our kids have little picnics on when the weather is nice. That's attached to your warm, dry, pretty house, filled with your healthy, normal children and your loving, devoted, hard-working husband, filled to the brim with food, that you were able to buy with the money that you earned from your job that brings you personal satisfaction and fulfillment.

Yeah, Lis, you have a hard life. Poor you, having to go out to buy groceries and chop ice off of your deck.

You know, when you're warm, safe, dry and fed, an ice storm is actually kinda interesting and pretty.