Someone dear to me recently told me that they're an "instant gratification" kind of person, and that I am the polar opposite. I think the Girl Scout cookies might disagree. But it got me thinking (oh, no! not the thinking, again!) about why that is. I'm a planner. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush? Pfft. If you wait long enough, that bush will be swarming with birds, ya know. Just wait. Besides, I might lunge and miss altogether, and then I'll have no bird in hand plus all the other birds will get spooked and then I won't even be able to pretend to believe I might have them later....
If you've ever taken Psych 101, you've seen this image. What do you see? An old woman, or a young girl? Today--a "one step forward, three steps back" kind of day--I feel like I'm sizing up a picture like this. First I see the old hag; the things in my life that turn my hair grey, all of the sadness and frustration and dissatisfaction with various things. Then I blink, and it's the maiden; all of the abundant blessings that have come to roost in my life, some hard-won and some simply grace in action. With each blink the picture shifts. The part that forces me to look away entirely is when the...
This may come as a huge shock, but I am not exactly a fan of winter. I know I hide it really well, but it's true. I don't like to be cold, I don't like snow, the endless muddy trail of bootprints in the house makes me want to cry. And as much as I hate to go out in it, being trapped in the house is hardly better. One should never have to go too many days without the feel of sunlight on one's face. (One=me, and anyone else who has a bit of seasonal affective stuff going on.) February is often my most difficult month. Winter has been dragging on long enough that I am DONE with it, even if it...
