The fog has lifted!

The past couple of days have been wonderful. With each day I wonder about the reality of SAD in my life. I always get a little melancholy in winter, when the sun comes up late and goes down early. It is more difficult to get out of bed, and harder to fall asleep. I'm not sure if that's normal or if it really is some sort of seasonal depression. Maybe it's just Vitamin D deficiency.

While I think I'm happy with the way my life is turning out, and in general I am a happy person, I haven't felt this happy -- this easily motivated and energized -- in a long time. Getting up in the morning hasn't been so easy for years. Maybe it's just because it's the first few days of really nice weather, but maybe I have been stuck in some sort of California fog, hoping and waiting for a summer that isn't coming. but I'm happy to say that I think that when we left the California coastal fog behind, the fog of my brain lifted a bit too, and after two days (and soon three) of warm - almost hot - sunshine I'm happy to say that I think the fog has completely burned off.

This morning I got up to see the sun shining. I opened the window and was greeted by a cool, crisp, spring breeze. It was not difficult to get up and get moving this morning. It wasn't even hard to be happy about doing so. The lessened necessity of coats and mittens brightened my morning even more than the sun that began shining brightly at an early hour of 6:30 AM. Funny, I didn't mind being up at 6:30 this morning. I guess I was wrong the other day. I can handle mornings like this. My toes are a bit chilly, but the kind of chilly that makes you feel alive, not like they're going to be frozen off.

There is a smell in the air that I had forgotten existed, but happily remembered the moment I took it in. The smell of damp soil and freshly budding plants and dewy grass just says spring. Yesterday I had to put sunblock on the kids as we sat outside, and I was never so happy to smell little kid sweat mixed with Coppertone and soil. Little Monster and his friend dug in the dirt with their Tonka dump trucks. Butterball waddled around the yard, picking up sticks and putting them into a bucket and pulling grass.

Last night I laid in my bed, sheets cooled by the crisp breeze coming in the open window. They almost smelled as if they'd been freshly washed and dried outside on a line. I got dozy as my body heat warmed the sheets and finally fell asleep with the smell of sweaty kid, Coppertone and baby bath on my hands. It has been amazing. It is going to cool down this weekend, but this cool down comes the hope and promise of brighter, warmer, summer days.

I can't wait.