The Long Winter
Another day of cold and snow. As this cold snap continues with no end in sight, I find myself lethargic and unorganized. I don’t know what I’m doing with my time, it just goes by until yet another day has passed with nothing to show for it.
I blame it on the weather. Grey skies, bitter cold, ice on the sidewalks and streets making travel by foot or car treacherous, give me little incentive to get out and get moving. I find myself remembering the book, The Long Winter, from Laura Ingals Wilder’s Little House series.
The book recounts the severe winter of 1880-1881 in South Dakota where they experienced seven months of blizzards. Trains the people relied on to bring provisions were discontinued due to the high drifting snows. The Wilders subsisted on potatoes and wheat bread, barely making it to spring. As an adult I have a much greater appreciation for how difficult it must have been for the Wilders than when I read the book as a child, especially for Ma and Pa as they worried how they would feed their children.
No matter how bad we may think we have it, it’s nothing like they experienced during those winters long ago on the prairie. Weeks on end of snow, trapped inside with no TV or Internet or electricity or gas heating to provide warmth and entertainment. It reminds me how fortunate I am to have all the comforts I have.
It also reminds me that some things just have to be gotten through, day after day. Not every day has to be productive. Sometimes you just have to get through, waiting for spring, and that’s okay. It was enough to survive the long prairie winters, coming out in the spring to see who else made it through and sharing your tales of survival before starting again.
Sometimes we just have to get through the winters in our life, trusting that spring will come. So curl up with a good book. Spring is only a few months away!
How are you surviving this winter?
Robertson, copyright 1/2014
Leave a Reply