Uh-Oh. The Dreaded February Angst.

"Be still and know that I am God..." ...Psalm 46:10


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Uh-oh.

I love dear, old-fashioned Buffalo. I do! But, each year, these frozen Februarys make me question the romance.

It's the snow. The bleak, dirty white, frozen-ness of it all. The inability to safely take walks or putter in my yard (as I'm positively itching to do right now). 

So what began my February angst this year? This. This glorious photo from Kim's beautiful blog, taken during a baby shower at her house on Super Bowl Sunday:

Oh, did you see them? The trees? They have leaves, green leaves--in February(!) Immediately my heart longed for such a magical place where one could look out her window in February and behold green leaves. Heck, where she could actually take a walk (rather than pack on winter weight) or sit and read outside and not die.

Wow. On Super Bowl weekend we had something like this:

Bleh. 

For 39+ years Tom and I have lived in snow country and well, I, personally think we have paid our dues. Done our time. Fought the good fight.

And well--confession time: on Saturday we looked-up Kim online and found her enchanted town with the green trees in February. Tom even 'drove around' by way of that street view feature thingy. We both discovered houses for sale there and ones which had sold and we swooned over 1920's nooks, crannies, sun rooms, archways and wide, pillared porches.

It felt a tad like a vacation, in fact, we even spoke about taking an actual trip there someday to check things out. Tom said maybe, if we moved there, he could work from home--his company has an office in Florida.

But eventually, we returned to reality. Kim's town is very tropically humid during the summers. I told Tom I'd have to switch my hibernation months--summers, rather than winters. But at least--during summer--I could sneak outside, mornings, then, the rest of the time, see green outside the windows.

Greeeen. My favorite color. Oh, green. I do love you.

But then (more reality) we recalled how Almanzo and Laura Ingalls Wilder went to Florida 'for their health' and a couple months later raced back home, looking sad and defeated like this:

Heh. Yep. Update the clothes a bit and that, I'm thinkin', would be Tom and me right before getting on the plane to return to saner temps.

Oh well. No season in Life lasts forever, not even Winter, and God can put Springtime in any heart, any time. (Trust me, I know this one.)

Snow melts, the air warms, and Debra eventually bursts out the backdoor the first pleasant Spring day both to read and to putter with her spade in the soil. And suddenly all those months inside the house somehow, inexplicably, make those early Spring weeks so much sweeter, dearer, than they'd have felt without the long sacrifice.

As the saying goes: "The longer you wait for something, the more you appreciate it when you get it. Because anything worth having is always worth the wait." 

And, of course, I'm not just talking weather here....

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"But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience."   ... Romans 8:25

"You make known to me the path of life;
    in your presence there is fullness of joy;
    at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."   ...Psalm 16:11


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Like Gladys Taber, Dallas Lore Sharp wrote books which actually make snowy winters sound so cozy, warm and relaxing that you find yourself wishing to be in the middle of a good ol' snowstorm.

Here are some books of his which you can read, for free, online:


The Hills of Hingham

Roof and Meadow

The Lay of the Land

The Whole Year 'Round

And for more of his books, go here.


Oh, and I'd forgotten that some of these are free on Kindle.

(My favorite of Dallas' books is The Better Country, but I've not yet found that available to read online. Please let me know if you do. My own old dusty copy is dearly loved--what a delight to take this 1920's road trip with Dallas and his wife!)


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