The Winter Solstice was yesterday.

I’m often in a bit of a funk during this Midwinter time of year. It’s usually cold, cloudy, and rainy outside. Yet, for some strange reason, everyone’s running around projecting this feeling called “holiday cheer.” I always imagine that a lot of the time it actually may be sincere.

Most years, of course, I’m left out of all the activity. Hence my tendency toward the blues. I’ve never been able, much, to insert myself into the holiday season when I’m single and alone. All of that family togetherness stuff is missing for me. And it almost always has been.

But, this year, there’s a bright side.

The winter, so far here in northern California, has been pretty mild. While we had one day last week that subjected us to nearly three inches of rain, and while I’ve been shivering many a morning recently, for the most part, weather-wise, here in my new land, it’s been mostly dry and manageable. Today was not particularly warm, but it was very sunny. And it was in the fifties when I went for a walk along my usual walking path. I had a wonderfully invigorating 39-minute trek, me and my iPod.

I don’t have the sunshine of my life. But I do have some sunshine in my life. And the days: from now on, they do get longer.

This is a good thing.

Soundtrack Suggestion

Time, time, time, see what’s become of me
While I looked around
For my possibilities
I was so hard to please
But look around, leaves are brown
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter.

(“Hazy Shade of Winter” – Simon & Garfunkel)