That'll teach him....

Matt and I went for a drive today since school is out again and we are all going a bit stir crazy in the house. Surprisingly enough, the kids were being quiet in the backseat, and all of a sudden, Matt asks, “What are you thinking about?” It threw me. He never asks that kind of thing…. Probably because I’m never quiet. So, I tried to distract him and said, “Nothing. I’ve just got writer brain. Ask later.” But he wouldn’t leave it alone, and so I came clean. And this is what I told him…. (Get ready because it’s very writer-ish.)

As we were creeping 10 mph in all the snow and ice, I couldn’t help but think it was all very metaphorical of life sometimes. We move about in our happy, warm places until all of a sudden the cruel cold hits... so unexpectedly. It forces us to our knees, makes us crawl, and steals our breath. What was touchable goes ice cold and stings our fingertips. What was familiar goes distant, unrecognizable. Where our hearts were uncovered and warm, now we have no choice but to bundle them up under layer after layer to keep them from freezing solid in mid-beat. Day to day routines are cancelled. Posts are abandoned. And we are left to wait for that moment when the warmth of day returns, and the bitter, unyielding cold is just a memory. When we can peel off the layers and let our hearts beat, exposed and unafraid. When life can’t get cancelled or posts abandoned. I told him I was ready for the sun to warm the world again.

That’ll teach him from asking me what I’m thinking.

I think when you lose someone, there’s always a little winter in your heart. Even in the dead of summer. Still, I’m praying summer days to hurry my way.