By Joe Mazzella
If there is one thing this year’s long winter has taught me it is that weather is a lot like life: you have to take it one day at a time. January this year has truly been one long, dark, cold, gloomy Monday all month long. Heavy snow followed heavy snow with no warm days in between to melt them. In fact, for week after week we seemed trapped in an arctic deep freeze with temperatures falling into the single digits during the days and below zero at night. I had taken a fall earlier in the month too and sprained my left arm badly. Still, I shoveled out over and over in spite of the pain. I also left the water dripping each night knowing that a higher water bill was better than paying to fix frozen, busted water pipes.
Then as February approached we finally got a warming trend that fully melted the snow but also came with heavy rains that caused flooding, rock falls, and landslides. And the warmth was brief too because winter wasn’t over yet. More snow was on the way and spring still seemed a long way off. It was like all the daily pains and struggles we face in life were reflected a lot in the weather this year.
That is why I am doing my best to take it one day at a time. Each morning when I wake up I thank God for another day to live and another day to love. I give thanks too for my cozy, warm home, for fresh water, electricity, and all the conveniences of life that we so often take for granted. I know too that each day will have its own problems, challenges, pains, and struggles. Yet, through them all choice is still mine. I can choose love. I can select joy. And I can share them with everyone I meet. Then I will bring a little happiness, a little warmth to this day no matter what the weather holds. Yes, weather and life are best taken one day at time. And how we take that day is up to us. May all of yours be taken with warmth and lived with love.
