Soul Hibernation

No surprise to anyone who has a clue about me, but I am a hybernating mammal. Much like the teddy bears I love to create, I enjoy the comfort and relative peaceful tranquility of hunkering down in a less-than perfectly sunny world and...frankly...breathing in and out in soft and gentle solitude. Turning off any excessively *noisy* outer-chaos and busy-ness, tuning out the persistent,vocal *go-go-go* type crowd that quite often equates activity with value, and twisting down the volume so one can hear the peace...is essential for my soul.

Excessive bright sunshine and the assumed frenetic activity that must, to some, take place during its presence, gives me an incredible headache! (smiling) The rejuvenating, uplifting value of a gorgeous, sunny day cannot be underestimated and written off lightly, of course. Nor can the joy of finding a beautiful shade tree to linger under while appreciating the beauty of the *light*! Shade dwellers can enjoy both. So can most sun-lovers, but it has nothing to do with the value of a person or their worth on earth if they prefer the calm of relaxing in shade to the constant motion of solar driven activity. And I find those who assume otherwise , well, half empty. Even as a youthful sun-worshipping, tan accumulating female (our kickiest fashion sense was based highly on summertime *tanability*) I knew when to get out of the frickin heat rays before my skin and brain were toast. (and...wistful sigh, I tanned so very well!)

This earth wasn't originally created to see how much noise we could make or how fast we could accomplish....what?...pushing ourselves to daily exhaustion by the time the earth turned her shoulder away from the scorching relentless gas pockets belching from the surface of an unforgiving, morbidly obese star (grin) before our beloved reflective moon makes her appearance in the sky? It's the BALANCE of the two that creates a full circle of life. Without the sun, the moon would go dark. Without the moon, romance, dreams and mystery could go dark as well!

Balance. And the appreciation of the need for it.

Where did this inner soapbox oratory come from? Well, we were under a winter storm advisory for the last two days. People bustled around fretting, moaning, bitching, complaining, worrying, predicting what would happen in this area that is very well accustomed to winter storm advisories. Then there were a handful that had this little inner glow of a smile on their face. Like a gift was about to arrive on their life's doorstep. We all knew we were going to hit the local grocery store on our way home from work, grab a few extra cans of soup, bread and milk and deal with whatever Mother Nature bestowed upon us. And some of us loved the possibilities.

We got about half the predicted wet stuff; it laid a sparkling blanket of white all over the place that was muddy and gloomy from days of gray. When I opened my curtains this morning, there is was. A calming cover. The sound of momentary peace and tranquility under a blanket of white over everything that by the evening would be plowed and shoveled and shifted so that daily life could still go on for those who by the nature of bad timing would have to venture outside. It was all quite *doable* for the modern world that had to continue.

But I smiled from the inside out. It was a hybernating day for me. And now, I am going to push back from the keyboard and the little flat screen that allows me to be part of a much bigger world and takes me to magical places I will never in my 3-D life experience, curl up with a fuzzy fleece blanket, three feline buddies, a steamy Oregon Chai at arms length, and just... breathe the calm. Soul hibernation.