Here comes the sun..

I was thinking today about the first Oregon winter I experienced in college. They were much different than our definition of winter here in Wisconsin with our snow, ice and below zero weather. It basically consisted of clouds and rain. After Christmas my freshman year, as the plane descended through the clouds to land in Eugene, I didn't realize that I wouldn't see the sun for three or more weeks. I settled into my winter term class schedule. I enjoyed getting back together with my friends I hadn't seen for a couple of weeks, but my energy level was zapped. It rained daily for weeks and the sky was a constant cover of grey clouds. All I wanted to do was sleep and I didn't understand it. Then one day it happened, a hole opened in that giant blanket of clouds and the sun punched through! More holes opened and more sunlight came shining through and patches of blue sky could be seen! People like flowers started to physically straighten up. Slumped shoulders, after being tapped for weeks by rain, were tall and straight again. After becoming aware of it the first time, I could feel when my shoulders would start to slump and hunch over. It was like even my posture was tired of being pestered by the rain and grey. But those first rays of sun!!! They came shining through and everything perked up and brightened up.

This past month, I've been coming out of a long, cold winter personally. I was determined to head into 2011 better than I was leaving 2010. There were great aspects to 2010 and I won't discredit those at all. I don't want to take anything away from the positive things that happpened last year, but by the end my shoulders were slumped over from a tough year. I was thinking about this as I was walking down the hall at work today to get some water. I'm probably not as aware of my posture as I should be, but walking down the hall I realized my shoulders were straight....I was walking tall (this will draw comments from friends of mine who say I don't need to be any taller). My head was full of positive things and I felt very grateful right then for the great life I have...the people in it, an amazing daughter, health, etc... That's when I started thinking back to that first Oregon winter and when the sun finally punched through those clouds. The song that came to mind was Richie Havens covering The Beatles' 'Here Comes the Sun.'

Here comes the sun,
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's alright

Little darling
It's been a long, cold, lonely winter
Little darling
It feels like years since it's been here

Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right

Little darling
The smiles returning to the faces
Little darling
It seems like years since it's been here

Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right

Little darling
I see the ice is slowly melting
Little darling
It seems like years since it's been clear

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
It's alright

Return of the world's worst blogger!

It's not that I'm the worst in stringing together a sentence or a handful of thoughts. Maybe I should label myself the world's most infrequent blogger. For a good chunk of 2009 and all of 2010, I haven't written here. Part of it was laziness and not making it a discipline or a challenge to get out here and write more frequently anywhere on the spectrum of silly to serious. Another part of it was, not wanting to document things that weren't going well and that I didn't want to look back on and see it documented that I was wrong. I've got a great memory, so I know I'm wrong plenty of times, but it's different to look back on something and SEE I was wrong and read just how wrong I was. I think I've gotten a bit better at laughing at myself (alone or with friends) and past mistakes I've made. I'm not a big fan of being human and making mistakes, but I can admit sometimes it can be pretty damn funny.

SOOOOO...2011, a new year and a fresh chance to blog again, perhaps with greater frequency than in the past, OR to drop the ball like previous years....who knows! I'll give it a shot and see what happens. There's no theme for my blog. It's just the ramblings of a tall man going down the road. On my journey, I pick some stuff up and I set some stuff down, but my goal is to only take with me "all that I can't leave behind."

See you further on up the road....
E