Funny how it so often feels as though nothing ever changes even though we have evidence to the contrary on a daily basis. I remember a cartoon that really brought that idea home to me a long time ago - often wish I'd kept it. It was a Rose is Rose cartoon and at the time I remember considering it a poor substitute for Calvin and Hobbes. With my own news migration to the web I seldom look at the comics anymore - I wonder if they will pass away someday. They used to be my favorite part of the paper.
Anyway, in this particular cartoon Rose was leaning against a tree, wrapped up in scarf, hat, gloves, coat and boots as the winter wind howled around her. She was feeling the frustration of a long winter and living in Ottawa, I could (and still can) certainly relate to that. She told herself that while it might seem winter would last forever she knew Spring was coming and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. In the next frame a sad looking snowman on the other side of the tree agreed with her and sighed.
I think at different times we are all Rose and we are all the snowman. I try very hard to love every part of my life for that reason. Sure, it feels as though I have been stuck here forever but really - nobody is stuck anywhere, not even on earth for anywhere near long enough to love or understand the things around them fully. I loved the winter this year, as I always do. It is charming to see the ice form on the canal and feel the sharpness of the cold making your cheeks pink. It's comforting to wake up in a cool bedroom, snug inside the comforter surrounded by pillows and the stars in winter glitter just like chips of ice on a velvet collar.
Still it is uplifting to feel Spring in the air and sweet to hear the birds singing outside every morning. Exciting to hear the silver tinkle of water running underneath the ice on the streets and in the alleys and satisfying to feel it crack under your bootheels. It makes me want to dance.
The heart heals. People rise beyond your expectations. The sun lingers longer - new things are born and seeds sprout in seemingly impossible places.
Spring. God Bless it.
random thoughts on the passage through an ordinary life.
About Me
- Stephanie Farrington
- I figure if there's an average person, it's probably me. That is to say, I have lived in a few places, probably about average, I have a post-secondary education and an unfinished MFA - which is probably average for people who pursue and education, I'm hitting middle age, my job has been downsized and resized so many times it's safe to say I've never had any job security. I live an average life on the precarious edge of the middle class. I'm happily married to an American, I hold Canadian citizenship, for now. But I'm so disgusted with just about everything going on in Canada that I may pursue changing my citizenship to match my husband's. I am fiercely loyal to American ideals, in part because they make sense and in part because I am descended from a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The idea of an equitable democracy, a meritocracy - that appeals to me. I write, I read, talk, take pictures and worry - just like everybody else. The hopes I hold most dear are for the health and well being of my immediate family, myself included, and the continuance of my happy life with my wonderful husband. Everything else seems manageable.
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