I remember this time last year….we had recently returned from our amazing and sun filled trip to St. John- which was healing and spiritual and wonderful. We came back to WEEKS of this- cold, gray, wet….,yuck. Yes, THIS is the NE weather I hate the most.

It’s like Heartbreak Hill- just when you think you are going to finish the marathon of winter and darkness- the month of April comes to BREAK you. Give me a blizzard any day of the week over this gray SLUDGE.

Snow has always had a romance and a beauty for me. You know- Robert Frost and Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening…..There is a peaceful stillness in a snow storm. And lots of people get to stay home snuggling in cozy blankets and drinking hot chocolate and building fires in their fireplaces. Reading good books and hunkering down. Especially teachers.

In GRAY SLUDGE nobody gets to stay home. You have to go out in it- and it’s not pretty or romantic or fun. No such thing as a SLUDGE day. And everyone is done with winter and so ready for spring…..

The kids can’t go out if it’s raining. Have you ever spent 8 hours inside a room with twenty 3-5 year olds?

Until you have done that- don’t talk to me.

You cannot know.

There are only so many good books you can read. There are only so many times you can sing “The Wheels on the Bus”, there are only so many times you can do the Hokey Pokey or the Chicken Dance.

I can feel my anxiety creeping in as I think about last year and fear that it will happen again…..these weeks and weeks of SLUDGE. This year, I will attempt to beat it. This year, it will not win. I will have to bring out the big guns. My most inspirational, motivational music. I will SING away the sludge. My most helpful guided meditations. I will pray away the sludge. I will exercise away the sludge.

When I romanticize St. John, and think about moving back there, I will remember Irma and Maria. And remind myself that Life in Paradise has its own set of special challenges. And heat rash. There was five years of heat rash……

The sludge will not win this year….

I will remember that beyond that seemingly impenetrable wall of gray- the sun continues to shine. Whether I can see it or not.

• AND that This Too Shall Pass….☀️🌤🌈
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