in winter's embrace.

      The sky is withering into the deep gray of evening as if it's growing tired from watching the rain dance confidently on the cement of 10th Avenue all day long.  Every so often I hear a Metro bus pass, disrupting the rain's natural cadence with a splash, exploding the droplets into a messy wet frenzy.  In light of a desperate search for optimism in the dead of winter, this seems like the perfect place to reflect briefly on the post-Christmas gifts that winter is delivering.  Some notable merits include, but are not limited to, a plethora of migratory birds (including a gaggle of geese!) wandering aimlessly in Magnuson Park, an easy excuse to add a few more blankets to my bed, a reason to rent really old movies, the chance to spot an abandoned, frozen hummingbird nest high up in a tree, a constant craving for warm, gooey chocolate chip cookies and a true discernment of phrases like, "bunkering down," "chilled to the bone," and "Get inside Missy, you'll catch a cold!"  Winter is certainly intimidating but if Winter were a man (notice "winter" is now capitalized) he'd be disappointed by your opinion.  He'd want you to know that winter is a big part of life and you can't just wait it out, otherwise you'd be in abeyance for one-fourth of forever!  Winter would march up and down main thoroughfares with his head high exonerating skeptics and throwing his fists into the air while calling for a more hardy race; one whose knees don't buckle under the force of a blizzard and one who laughs at the thought of crying the winter blues because, after all, if you're human enough to feel the cold, then you should be celebrating, right?  While it's true that he teaches harsh lessons, Winter is always right.  Let's find a way to appreciate the cold just as we appreciate the warm because experiencing both is to be human and this duality is deserving of celebration.


ps. a new winter song: County Line by Cass McCombs.  Put on a beautiful dress or snazzy suit, play this song and do a few romantic twirls, even if the love of your life is thousands of miles away.  You might find that it actually makes you feel less alone.