Blizzard

Peace and love to you all.

Well, it's happened. We fought it as long as we could, but snow has finally come to the Dakotas. It wasn't as much as we were expecting (small miracles!), but it seems likely that we won't see grass until April or May now. Yes, winter has arrived and the sweaters need to be pulled out of storage, the shorts need to be put away, and the cars need to be checked daily to make sure the dang batteries aren't dead.

This was not Dad's favorite time of the year. Sure, he loved Thanksgiving and Christmas - two dates that we'll address when they come - but the actual season of winter? No, thank you. On a day like yesterday or today, there would have been grousing and complaining about the stupid roads and how cold it is and why do we live here again and how he couldn't wait to go down south and start life down there. He would have been grumpy about the roads being icy and the knuckleheaded drivers. But he would have taken Mom to work and said goodbye and, secretly, been happy that he could do that and keep her safe. A task that now falls to us boys, although we're not doing it every day because we have our own things to do!

As we move into this season of cold and hibernation, it reminds us that in all of life, there are seasons of life, love, rebirth and then seasons of death and mourning. We cannot have the former without the latter, much as we want to. So, because Dad lived a life as rich as he did, so too must we forge a new path through the snows of life after him. Along the way, there will be high points and low points, but the cold will come all the same. Sometimes thriving is possible. Sometimes simply making it through is enough.

May you stay warm, stay comfortable, and stay loved as the seasons change.