Land of Opportunity

When we moved to Colorado, one of the intentions was that we would get out and enjoy all the opportunities of the outdoors here more than we did back East.  We used to live 5 minutes from the Appalachian Trail, but we never got very into hiking on the East Coast.  It's not a culture we were familiar with.

So here we are - The Land Of The Outdoors - where the sun shines 300 plus days a year, and I have to admit that I was skeptical.  I wasn't sure we would be able to really get off our behinds and get "out there" -- out in the Big Blue Room of nature. 

I am pleased to report that the husband, affectionately dubbed "Twitch" since his epilepsy diagnosis last year, has been lighting the fire under me and we are actually going outside and breathing lots of fresh air while viewing the spectacular sights of Colorado.  We are explorers in the brave new land, and after more than a decade on the Eastern Seaboard, it's amazing to be in a new place with so many new places to visit.

Friends "back home" laugh at me when I breathlessly describe how the sun shines all the damn time and how it snows, sure, but not like in DC. There, the snow falls and stays and turns to black and gray sludge that freezes over on itself again and again while the gloomy gray clouds laugh at human misery overhead.  Here, we don't even have a neighborhood plowing service. Usually we can see the steam rising from the pavement in the heat of the sun, Mother Nature providing a broom to sweep away the white stuff so it vanishes completely in a day or two. 

So, yeah, it probably sounds to people who know me like I joined a cult.  I might have to start calling myself "Sun Child Winter Smiler" or something, just to really seal the impression.

I've never made it through a winter as an adult without bone-deep blues and desperation for spring aching in my soul come April... until now.  I actually laughed as the unseasonably late snow fell through the afternoon and evening yesterday.  I smiled at the erstwhile white flakes and mentally perused the catalog of available outdoor adventures waiting to be sampled this weekend. 

Those cute little snowflakes.  They fell as the sun shined down from above, and when the moon glowed bright through the windows of the bedrooms where we slept, cocooned and dreaming of adventures yet to come.