Singing

Readjustment back into life in Wallingford is taking a little while. I nearly cried the other day when the sun refused to come up before 8am, set by 4:40 and refused to clear the gray haze that shawled the city. I looked out my office window around noon, only to realize it was a shade or two lighter then it had been at 7am. Winter.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, no?

Yesterday my mom made a comment, what's wrong? And i relayed my let down of finally realizing that Seattle gets on average 61 sunny days a year, and rains on average 265. Yet I've lived in the pacific northwest all my life - from Eugene to Seattle, to Bellingham. And never before has the weather been a factor, or at least as prevalent. Thirty plus years of low vitamin d, high water tables, rain coats (true locals don't own umbrellas), muck boots and pasty, pale white skin. So why the sudden change?

Could it be I'm going through withdrawals of high intensity exercise? That i went from summer southern hemisphere to dead smack middle of winter in a twenty four hour travel period? Cry me a river, right?

But that all changed yesterday when i received an invite from my friend Jonah (mr. Soft ride) to go night skiing at alpental. I perked up, got giddy to push around some white fluff and checked the weather - a predicted five inches of freshies!!! I felt like i was 12 again.

Nevermind that as the day wore on, the temps at the pass increased. And that the "snow" had turned into rain. Adorned with gortex, a good attitude and an opportunity to move my body, I was practically singing in the rain on the soggy lift rides up. The snow was like over whipped mashed potatoes, easily pushed around and forgiving. Jonah, Orion and Matt were there to practice the gates for an upcoming beer race league. And I stood on the side of the hill and watched their first attempts at racing for time, shivering but cheering them on. It reminded me of my mom- who for two years in high school stood on the side of the hill cheering on my brother and I while we skied on the South Eugene high school ski team. What dedication!

That wet, cold encounter was all i needed though to embrace the winter here in the PNW. I was reminded that the only way to survive our cold, wet, sun absent winters is to get out in it and have fun. And singing in the rain helps a little too.