FEBRUARY - BLAH!

Oh, how I hate February!! It makes no difference that it's 28 days long most years, I still hate it. Hate is a strong word you say?? Well, in my defense there really is no better way to say it.

Why do I hate February you ask? (Thanks for asking by the way!) While January is snowy and cold at least it has character. February is usually gray and dull. With much of the snow melted, everything looks dirty and lifeless. My friend Lynn put it best when she said, "I'm tired of living in gray scale."

The weather is only the icing on the not so tasty cake. This month has been one full of stress, sickness and a general feeling of blah. All month, I have been completely unmotivated. Sure I still get things accomplished, but my activity level is about half of what it usually is. I feel like I am moving in slow-motion and that everyone is buzzing busily around me. To elaborate slightly, February has sucked the emotion from my soul. Yes, if February had a form it would be a Dementor - a soul sucking month considered to be the most foul of all months.

I don't care what the experts say, you can't escape February. There are hundreds of tips for overcoming the February blues, all of which seem to push me a little further into the abyss. I'm afraid such sage advice as "exercise" or "bliss out" or "establish goals" all make me want to punch the "in training" kid at Tim Hortons in the throat a little harder than I wanted to before. These helpful tips were obviously written by someone sprawled out on a beach chair, drink in hand, overlooking the Mediterranean.

There is a bright spot however. March is on the horizon with its promise of Roll Up The Rim and Prelonniepalooza. So bite me February!! You are just about gone for one more year and I shall emerge relatively unscathed and stronger for my struggles and you and your misery shall be forgotten in no time.

BLOOM

You can't mistake a sunflower. How lovely is this flower with beauty that has captured the sun of a hundred sunny days? But the true beauty of a sunflower is not in its petals but rather in its spirit. Requiring little nourishment, the sunflower grows into one of the mightiest and brightest flowers in the garden.

I remember my surprise when I discovered a sunflower growing from discarded birdseed in the toughest of clay under our May tree. Such a kinship I felt with that little sunflower! I was on a rather tough journey at the time and that little sunflower reminded me of the need to bloom where I was planted. The lesson of the little sunflower has stayed with me over the years - whether it is the most fertile of soil or the toughest of clay, I must turn my face toward the sun and bloom. Bloom Sunflower Girl. Bloom.