There’s a U.S. military arsenal not far from where I live—adjacent to the small township in which my ex-wife grew up in Ohio.
Why here?
The story I always heard is that the government chose this area to build a military facility because it is statistically the cloudiest place in the United States—making satellite surveillance of this region particularly difficult.
I don’t know whether this really is the cloudiest place in the country. But it’s so gray that I’m not sure it matters. We have our share of pleasant weather in the summer and autumn seasons.
But winter? Even spring?
It’s certainly the cloudiest place I’ve ever lived, and that’s including two other locations in Ohio hours away from here.
A lot of clouds. A lot of gray. A lot of sad.
It’s the Great Lakes.
There’s a lot of water. And water makes clouds.
…
The grayness feels like a prison sometimes.
Whenever you fly out of here in particularly cloudy weather, it’s always fun to break through the cloud barrier into the clear skies at high altitudes.
Free!
Day after day after day of the clouds can sometimes wear on you. Mentally. Spiritually. Emotionally.
I don’t believe it’s a coincidence they call the ailment SAD, or seasonal affective disorder.
But ever the positive spinster, the geographic conditions do cause one lovely side effect. When the skies are clear and the grass is green, we tend to take notice.
We tend to not take it for granted. We tend to soak it in. We tend to feel gratitude.
…
So it is today.
The only remnants of winter, a few small snow piles that have yet to succumb to melting.
The grass, green.
The sky, blue. So blue.
The bare tree branches criss-crossing the blank canvass, giving our eyes more access to the big, blue heavens.
It’s not forever.
It’s only a glimpse.
Merely a sample.
One small taste.
A whisper of spring.
Silent and still.
To hear the whisper.
Sudden noise may scare it away.
So it waits.
And so we wait.
So still that it lingers.
Like a promise.
A promise that tomorrow, and next week, and next month can be better than now.
A promise of rebirth.
An opportunity.
To do what we want.
To be who we want.
But, don’t hurry.
Winter’s not through, yet.
There’s still time.
For the world to spin.
For wounds to heal.
For scars to form.
For dreams to take root.
For growth.
So for now, we wait.
Not on our time.
On nature’s time.
Not what we want.
But what is right.
That sweet day, full of warmth, light and birdsong.
When new life begins.
And we climb once more.
Beautifully said & I love your photo. I know exactly what you meant as I read your post… on days in winter that look like your photo I have said right out loud “thank you for this day!” It is impossible not to take notice and feel hopeful…..
🙂
Thank you. I like that you get it.
Yes! In Wellington, NZ we have a saying “you can’t beat Wellington on a good day” and it’s just like you say. We are currently experiencing a wet Summer with lots of cloud and when we get a great Summer day it’s wonderful. I too give thanks for it. I get what you mean 🙂
🙂
I didn’t know there was such thing as bad weather in NZ.
One of the compensations that Winnipeg gets for -40 wind chill is the brilliant clear winter sky. (Which is part of why it’s so friggin cold here– clouds hold in the geothermal heat). A friend of mine from university spend several years in the Toronto area and said she really missed the sun in the winter.
True. The clear days definitely tend to be the coldest.
But I’ll trade 10 degrees for sunshine every time.
That is some world class optimism! Similarly, I love feeling depressed because that one good day a year feels really good! Ok that last sentence was pure fiction.
On the other side, we get so much sun in Colorado that it’s fun to have a week of clouds and rain!
That was one of my favorite quirks of living in a Florida beach town. When it was cloudy, which was almost never, you sort of enjoyed the novelty of it.
Truth
🙂
New Zealand is made up of small Islands closely placed to Antarctica. The weather here is wild a varied. You never know what you will get, windy Wellington, Sunny Nelson/Marlborough, wet and dismal West Coast, Dry Canterbury, Snow covered Lower South Island and Mid North Island (impassable at times), Humid subtropical Northland and all the in between. NZ is wild and unfathomable, an hour from where I live there is another climate entirely, we rely on daily weather reports, and yearly entire crops are ruined by unseasonable hail or a cold snap, stock die in unseasonable snow or drought. A land of confusion and beauty, there is nowhere like here to view the stars, yet we suffer also from SAD. Even in those places deemed to be the sunniest ever. Perhaps it is something else that ails our small land? Tall Poppy Syndrome, big fish in a small pond or loneliness. Don’t get me wrong it is beautiful here but we still have the same problems as everywhere else. I think the first world suffers its own issues ones borne from nostalgia unrecognized a disconnection from ourselves as we attempt to beat the Jones or simply live well in a world that measures you by the depth of your pockets and freshness of your i-technology. I hope this doesn’t ring negative as I see it as recognition that change is needed. The kind of change you talk of in your own life, to live well, be honest, love more be grateful and therefore gracious regardless of the weather… they were kiwi’s that wrote ‘Four Seasons in one Day.”
🙂
Rest assured I knew there was inclement weather in your beautiful country. I just have a high opinion of it, so I project constant perfect weather when I think about it. *shrug*
That makes me smile 🙂
Thanks for the beautiful post. Whenever there are cloudy days (which as you know is pretty much everyday), I also think about when you fly out of here that above those layers of clouds is sun and blue sky (sigh). But you are right, it does make you appreciate the beautiful weather when we do have it! Here’s to an early spring and much happiness in 2014!
Great minds…
Thank you. 🙂
ha! i know right!!
This was so pretty, Matt!
Thank you, lady.
What a sunny post in all facets of the word! And, I sooooooo get this. I lived in Humboldt, CA going through college and for a few years afterwards, and our average weather was gray and mid-50’s with the ever-lingering chance of rain if it wasn’t raining already. When the sun would come out, all of us college kids would race outside, roll up our sleeves and pantlegs, and find a piece of green grass to enjoy. It was actually kind of hilarious, but, being back on the Central Coast of Cali now, I never ever take these beautiful sunny days for granted. I remember the gloom of before and feel blessed to have this wonderful place as my home now. Thanks for sharing this great and uplifting post! XOXO-Kasey
🙂
Good. We really should work so hard to not take things for granted.
Gorgeous, sunny days are blessings. Enjoy them!
Yes, Matt, I agree. The world moves so quickly that it’s easy to let the simplest of joys pass by…warm sun being one of them. Glad you got this glimpse. 🙂
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