Do you remember the nursery rhyme, 3 Little Piggies?
It was what was rhyming through my head as C.C. and I left the terminal on Saturday night, bracing ourselves against the onslaught of cold we knew we were about to encounter.
“Home again, home again, jiggety jig,” I said as we stepped from the aircraft into the port leading to the main terminal. “Brrrr!” I added as the cold air rushed at me through the openings where the port joined the aircraft.
“Just think of it as natural air-conditioning,” C.C. joked.
And the lady behind him laughed and said, “Yeah. And you can’t turn it off until May, no matter the temperature.”
We Calgarians love our weather. We love to talk about it, groan about it, wish we could change it. But secretly… Well secretly I think we kind of like it. It makes us who we are. Hardy. Willing to take on anything. Not afraid of the elements. And optimistic (the summer will come, it always does) and maybe a bit pessimistic too. (Don’t worry. Wait five minutes and the weather will change — for the worst probably because you know, it can snow in July in Calgary!)
Yesterday, as I took Beaumont for his walk, I didn’t mind the weather. Sure, it was cold. Very cold. And yes, the slight breeze had a bite. But it was crispy clear and fresh! It definitely reminded me that I was alive. Everyone I met at the park was bundled up against the elements, but they were smiling. Our dogs played and romped and we laughed together and talked about how silly the puppies were being, and the weather, naturally.
I had to laugh when I saw myself all bundled up for the cold. Last week I was trying to strip down to the bare necessities to accommodate the heat and now, I’m bundling up to survive the cold.
And that’s the thing about we humans. We are adaptable. We are capable of adjusting our sails, shifting our perspectives in order to live as gracefully as we can in the circumstances in which we find ourselves today. Because that’s the thing about the weather. You can’t change it. You can breathe into it and find the joy in whatever you’re doing, where ever you are, no matter the temperature, because weather is weather and accepting what is as what it is makes for a more grace-filled life.
After I unpacked and stuffed the laundry basket and tucked my straw hat and sandals away for another day, I tackled the bigger job I hadn’t had time to do before we left for Huatulco. Put away Christmas for another year.
I lit the tree for one last time and began to unrobe it as if preparing it for the heat of summer. As I worked, I was reminded of Christmases past and the many changes my life has encountered over the years. Carefully wrapping the beautiful silvery balls and the decorative birds I cherish, my mind leapt back to the gold filigree ornaments I’d purchase many years ago at the Christkindl Market in Cologne, Germany. I loved those ornaments. The delicate design. The exquisite detail of each curved edge. I lost those decorations in the aftermath of a relationship gone terribly wrong and for a long time, as I healed from the ravages of what had happened, I missed those ornaments and the life before the ‘bad man’ that they represented.
Today, I still remember those ornaments. But I no longer miss them. My life is so full of precious moments, of wondrous adventures and people I love that those ornaments remain gracefully in the past. When they do pop into my mind unexpectedly, I see them in all their intricate detail as a beautiful reminder to cherish what is in the present today.
I grounded myself in my world here at home yesterday. In this place that is filled with people I cherish and a life I love.
I am blessed.
And I do a little jiggety jig in the soft glow of morning and greet this day with joy.
It may be cold outside, my in my heart it is warm and toasty as I am surrounded in Love.
Namaste.
