This is that in between time here in the Midwest.  After the warm holidays filled with lights and family and good food and days off work but before the seed catalogs filled with lush green images of plants and blossoms and the LL Bean catalogs filled with swimsuits and walking shorts fill our mailboxes with hope.   For many of us it’s an empty time of year filled with cold windy gray afternoons sandwiched by  cold dark mornings and early dark evenings.  Some of us can only see endless days of shoveling snow and scraping windshields.

We think it will go on forever.

And so we dream.  We dream of warm sandy beaches and blue skies.  Palm trees or dessert cacti.  Maybe both.   And we plan.  We look at maps and brochures, scout destinations online.  We huddle around our fireplaces or over warm drinks and talk about exotic sights, intoxicating music, crowded markets.  Heat.  Laughter.  Fun.

Sometimes we get to go on those dream vacations.  Sometimes it’s not possible.  But here’s the thing.  While we are dreaming and planning, researching and reading, we experience the fun and sun in a different way.  We get to explore the possibilities and the impossibilities.  And it is fun.   Our souls warm while we dream and plan.  The days get lighter, we notice the sun more often.

The weight of winter slips just a bit.

In these last weeks of January take some time to dream, even to plan.   Find warmth and fun wherever you can, but be observant.  The days are getting longer; soon it will be February and those seed catalogs will be in our mailboxes.

And we will once again shed the gray and move toward the sun.

I’m counting on it.