I am currently in Texas – enjoying mid-70′s weather and wishing I could take it with me to my rainy, wet, windy, and cold home. Even so, I am ready to return – to Emma and Abby, to my house, to familiar freeways and streets, to work, to friends, to routine, even to the weather.
Being away enables me to be more aware of what I leave – and what I truly value. Don’t get me wrong: I’ve had a fantastic three days – with a rodeo on tap yet tonight and then tomorrow’s flight back to Seattle. But even as I laugh with co-workers and friends, eat great food, drink good wine, and soak up the sun, I hold the faces and scenes of home in my mind. And those faces and scenes make me smile. They warm me up.
Given such, maybe the return to the cold won’t be all that bad.
I’m aware, even as I type, that there have been seasons in my life where the weather may have been stunningly beautiful but I have felt bone-chillingly cold inside. So I’m grateful for the paradox: a cold season outside and one of deep and satisfying warmth inside. It’s the choice I’ll make again and again. Even tomorrow when I get on the plane and fly back to the mid-40s, my coat, my umbrella, and incessant windshield wipers.
Warmth is good. Certainly the sun, but even more, a heart filled with such. I’m grateful.
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