Today is the darkest day on this hemisphere and the official beginning of winter, though with two heavy snowfalls already in these parts, we switched to winter mode (and mood) at least a few weeks ago. But today we get an official reminder that three more months of cold, grayness and possibly quite a lot of snow lie ahead. All in all, not a day with a great joy potential and long winters are not something I usually enjoy or look forward to, but today is a great day because it is, in a way, the worst of the season. It only gets better from here.
Tomorrow, we will have two more minutes of daylight, the day after tomorrow will be four, and so on. Of course we won't notice any of that for weeks to come, but at least we can be safe in the knowledge that things are getting better, and that we are moving (crawling maybe, but let's not split hair!) in the direction of something beautiful (a.k.a. spring, sun, long days). That's the power of incremental change for you.
Besides, 21st always means that holidays are near, and some well-deserved rest will soon be enjoyed. Or some well-deserved skiing, skating, or reading by the fireplace with a mug of cocoa (the sound of kids bickering muffled in the background).
Happy winter solstice, then, and enjoy those two more minutes of light tomorrow!
Hope must have two birthdays: one is today and one on 25th.....
ReplyDeleteI totally agree! Just few days ago I told Zoltan that I was so much waiting for the 21st so that days would finally start to be longer. He thought I was kind of weird... :)
ReplyDelete@ ruslan--the one on the 25th seems arbitrary :)
ReplyDelete@ale--what is weird about that?! winter is so much easier to manage when you know that light is slowly but surely creeping in :)