There’s a sheet of ice outside my door, down the drive, and most likely down most drives around these parts. We were visited by an ice storm and have not quite gotten over it yet.

There is, of course, an end in sight. Spring comes next month, which is something to look forward to.

But for now I’m looking at deciduous boughs dressed all fancy in ice, while their evergreen cousins bow down reverently, or so it seems, some nearly touching ground. Today’s precipitation isn’t quite as forceful, just a smidge of freezing rain.

Only the very hardy, it seems to me, would venture out in such weather and as I am not feeling especially hardy just now, I will not be venturing.

A good day for a pot of tea, maybe a plate of scones if that’s your thing, and making plans for the garden. A tiny spark of hope that spring is just around the corner, and summer’s close on her heels. A good day for looking forward to the end of winter. Unless, I suppose, you’re a skier or snowboarder.

We look forward to the end of icy roads and icy branches and this makes sense, because the end of winter is the beginning of something beautiful.

But some endings are not ushered in with daffodils and tulips.

There are endings we never asked for, never wanted,  and sometimes never even saw coming. Jobs. Relationships. Lives. Loss is both universal and heart wrenchingly personal.

And so, we grieve. We cry, of course. We get angry and why not? We might draw the shades and hide out while the wound mends.

Eventually we get through it. A little bruised. Probably a little different. Definitely wiser, if not a bit more weary.

But we do get through it.

And one day, we look out in the yard and see a daffodil or two, poking their heads out of the covers, blinking at the brightness of sun.

And we notice for the first time in a long time that there is a bright sun.

So we poke our heads out, blinking away tears, and somehow know just how those daffodils feel.

Because nothing lasts forever, not even ice storms.

~xo,
LuAnne

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“Life has its pains and evils-its bitter disappointments; but like a good novel and in healthful length of days, there is infinite joy in seeing the World, the most interesting of continued stories, unfold…”(~W.E.B Du Bois) “Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns.” (~Anne Lamott)