“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me,

 there lay an invincible summer.”― Albert Camus

 

I’m glad January is ending. We’ve been battered, bruised and buried.

If it isn’t Covid, it’s Politics or Russia or Climate or on and on and on.

I think we’ve all felt — at some point or another — like beating the groundhog to the punch and crawling back into our holes . . . until 2023!

We’re going to make it through this. I’m not quite sure how yet, but it feels like there’s hope.

Back when my eldest daughter was in college, then grad school, we had a funny, friendly competition. I would pay her $20 every time she worked the above Camus quote into her assigned writing. It was a silly thing for us to do — especially since I’ve taught on the collegiate level myself. But we both laughed about it a lot (and still do). Yes, I should’ve been a more responsible parent. No, I don’t regret participating in that scam with her.

But that was one way we had of connecting, dealing with the stress and having a little fun. That’s kind of how I feel right now. These are surely the depths of winter. You have to do whatever it takes to get through it all. For me, taking walks along a nearby forest trail helps a lot. I pop a podcast into my ears and I slowly drift along. There’s a frozen pond halfway through my walk. I’ve taken to practicing my Olympic curling skills with chunks of ice or random fallen twigs. Today was a red letter day; one of my brick-a-brac made it entirely across the ice, coming to a stop on the opposite side of the pond. Even my podcast presenter paused and noted my accomplishment — though I may just’ve accidentally hit PAUSE. Next up, representing Team USA in Beijing, it’s MEEEE! 

I’ve tried to cobble this essay together many times over the past week. I’ve gone down rabbit holes wide enough to drive an actual Volkswagen Rabbit down. I asked Siri to remind me of something to try writing earlier and she called this my depths of winter blah, instead of blog. Siriously!

I think what I’m trying to get across is yeah, Covid sucks; the Russians suck; Climate Change and Politics suck, but … (pause while Rodney extracts himself from another rabbit hole.)

I think what I’m trying to get across is, please, we all just need to hold on a little while longer and do whatever it takes to make it through. It seems like everything is going to get better soon. I don’t know that to be true; it just feels that way.

In the meantime, I need to stretch my muscles a little bit more and practice for my upcoming appearance in …

Hey wait a minute!!!