Winter Bravery
Making it through a cold world takes courage…
It’s snowing here in very southern Ohio. Not much, but the hills make driving interesting, especially since it’s the first snowfall. We average fourteen inches of the fluffy precipitation, which isn’t much when I compare it to the snows of my childhood in Upstate New York. The long winters and unending parade of days full of flying snow felt magical back then, but I didn’t have to drive to work or face another day at my drudge of a job.
Somehow children have a way of seeing the good in life. When my parents moved back to New York during my college years, I still enjoyed downhill skiing just an hour away, and the night I went cross country skiing with my super cute college boyfriend ( the husband!) made us lapse into laughter. The smallest hill made us schuss backwards into each other, and then we’d laugh some more. Eventually we’d head home and bake cookies.
So how is it that the joys of childhood flee when we grow older?
We have meals to prepare or we go hungry. The car must be made ready for snow and sleet, we have to leave earlier, making our way in the dark to get to work on time. Cold, snow, darkness, with people staying indoors fills our winter.
But winter brings bravery. To step onto the cold floorboards when we awake is brave. We fumble through the dark mornings to take a hot shower, but the coldness seeps through the windows and curls around our feet. Bravery beckons us onward, and if we face our days with courage and the determination to be happy, our winter days and nights can bring us that simple childhood wonder and love for this magical time of the year.
I lived in Wisconsin for over twenty years, and the coldness had to be faced head on. When I saw frost climbing up my bedroom walls, I knew a cold that stole across my soul; but I decided to embrace it all. I ran those winters in the dark, since the sun sets very early in December and January. Breathing in the cold made me face it head on and every mile required resilience. Bravery.
Running five miles outside in a neighborhood with no street lights, with dark houses spread far apart, on nights when my only company was a Christmas decoration on someone’s tree that played creepy tinkling Christmas carols as I logged yet another mile was courageous. Wisconsin cold is -30 degrees and heating up the car’s battery in the kitchen, so we could have a night in a hotel without kids!
Shoveling snow became fun when I went outside and heard the scrape of fellow laborers, with the whirring of an occasional snow blower making noise in the background. We joined together in the muffled air and came away breathless and yet very accomplsihed. A job well done, and done well with a good attitude. Brave? You betcha!
So many books encourage us to make our homes cozy cocoons filled with warmth and enticements that make us never want to leave, but the point of winter is to share our warm pumpkin bread or chocolate cookies with others. To run out and make a snow fort or a snowman. To ski and walk the dog in snowdrifts. Even those who don’t see snow can still embrace the dark by filling it with light.
Wrap lights around your trees or windows. Grab some friends and go caroling together (in a safe neighborhood), or skate outside on the skating rinks. Drink hot chocolate! One cup won’t kill your keto diet. Well, it actually will, but maybe this is the time to break the diet. Cookies, candles, blankets and fires make us light up with happiness. But bring bravery to this year. We will not be scared of the headlines. We will visit others this year. We will share the season with others this time.
Be brave. Wrap yourself in layers and head outside. Wear warm clothes to work. Wax philosophical about winter. We had our days of ease, happiness and late sunsets in June and July, so now it’s time to see what we’re made of. Are we stoic? Can we find pleasure in these days? What about after the holidays when January stretches out ahead of us with no magical Christmas lights? Courage! Take heart and fill your soul.
Act like a child even though those days are gone. I once went sledding with my boyfriend (now husband) on a snowy winter night on a huge hill using cardboard boxes that we broke down. I laughed so hard that evening ad still remember it well. Why don’t we act more like children who are awed by the world? It might even be a bit of fun! Plus adults can have a warming Irish coffee or a dram of whiskey.
I’m heading out to take some pics of our tiny snowfall. We are headed back up to sixty degrees in two days! But I’ll be dreaming of a white Christmas. I hope your winter is full of brave days. A good set of gloves makes all the difference, as does a heated steering wheel (my husband’s car, not mine). And they sell battery operated heated coats now! What’s not to love?
