TheBanyanTree: Winter living

[Gloria]

Someone wondered if it's been cold in these parts of Michigan.  We weren't discussing the ordinary cold of winter, rather the freeze your body part temperatures that dip below zero.  Well yes, it's been that freezing kind of cold lately.

Thinking about it all rendered me nostalgic.  I remember when I loved snow and ice enough to go outside and play for hours on end.  As a child, play meant ice skating, building snowmen, making snow angels and sledding down monstrous hills atop anything that would slide.  It meant the gathering of siblings and friends, all taking sides and building forts for protection during major snowball wars.  As I got older, play began to include cross-country skiis and riding snowmobiles.  It included teaching our babies and kids of all ages how to enjoy the winter months. It seemed everybody played outside and finding people that wanted to share the experience wasn't hard to do. 

Hubby and I would take one day off annually to ice fish.  No worries about work, raising children, or bills. Just the two of us, some snacks and a six pack.  Off we'd go to the ice shanty we kept out on the lake. I never caught a fish, but I did see some swimming below the ice.  I remember the excitement I had at seeing the first one and the fact that I wasn't bothered that it didn't take my hook.  That would just mean my mittens would get wet...and stinky!  It wasn't the fishing I enjoyed so much.  It was the cozy atmosphere inside of that shanty.  The little heater that kept us comfortable and warmed our soup, the long conversations about everything under the sun, the glimmer in the eyes of two people in love.  We were isolated from the world for a few short hours and it renewed our strength to carry on with our hectic lives.  

So now I wonder.  Where did the excitement go?  Did it flee with the onset of toes that won't stay warm, or did it flee with friends that no longer want to play?  Did it flee when our children became adults?  The scariest question of all, no maybe it's the answer I don't like... is it all part of middle age?  Are we slowing down in preparation for old age?  And then my heart speaks out and says it doesn't have a thing to do with age.  It has everything to do with attitude.  I think my attitude needs a major adjustment.  Perhaps I'll start by finding my boots.  I'm sure my dog would love to take a winter wonderland walk. 

Dreamer...always dreamin' of a kinder, gentler world for ALL