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The winter of my discontent

I picked the wrong year to trade in my solid-drive-through-any-snowstorm safely minivan for a cute Mini Cooper! The snowbanks at most intersections are taller than my car and it's so light that it doesn't hold the road like the van when gusts are blowing and it's icy. 

 But heck, spring is only 30-something days away and then on that first 50+ degree day, I'm opening the sunroof and turning up the awesome stereo and going for a drive. It can be a long drive too, because the gas mileage is awesome!

 But we have to get there first and on some days it just doesn't feel like this winter will end. The snow keeps coming (we've had about 127" so far this season way above the average of 70"). For many days in a row it's been cloudy but today it's sunny and it is beautiful to see the snow glisten. There were three days in a row that I didn't leave the house - partly because we were advised to stay off the roads and partly because I didn't dare attempt an excursion in my cute little car. And then there's the walking around when sidewalks or parking lots are icy - for a woman not normally stable on her feet and using a cane, it could likely be the scariest 50 feet ever traversed!

 I am not alone in my discontent this season, this I know. Many of us are left to wonder if we have Seasonal Affected Disorder (is there a more appropriate acronym that S.A.D.?). Or it could simply be the severity of this winter and the small number of days without snow or cloud cover. I know my mood is also affected by having a son on the other side of the world until May and having my baby knocking on the nests door ready to fly off to college in the fall. Also its affected by the home being constructed on the lot behind ours where trees and wildlife used to exist. Now it's just mounds of hardened dirt and construction equipment. Yet that seems to only be part of the discontent. As the title of the blog reflects, I am a positive thinker - just this side of Pollyanna, in fact. But I think even dear Polly would have a challenge coming up with positives about this dreary, snowy winter.

 Yet, I cannot end this edition on such a bleak tone. I am calling on all my positiveness to end on a sunnier note; a robin was sitting on the tree outside my window this morning. That bird and I stared at one another until Wally, ever the watchdog, spotted that bird and began to bark scaring the robin away. I think that bird came back a little early and might be booking the next flight back to more livable climates, but it was a sign that spring is just around a very snowy corner. I can't see it because my car is too short, but I have faith and know that it's there!!!

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