Sometimes You Just Have To...

What is it with February, anyway?  Sure, it's the month of hearts and flowers and candy, of dinner out with your sweetheart.  But if there's no sweetheart, or anyone remotely resembling one, there isn't a lot of significance in Valentine's Day.  And other than that, there isn't much else to the month, barring Presidents' Day, to speak highly of.  Cloudy skies with no rain don't float my boat.

Yes, I'm grumbling.  My To Do list, like Joan's, seems to be breeding as I sleep.  Get two things done on the list, then three more appear.  It started in January and is running well into February.  And there are still some from January waiting to be finished and marked off.

Writing?  Ha!  How about revising and polishing?  First a new book and now two books being considered for publishing.  While I don't mind the R&P, there are new characters trying to push their way into my conscious mind...as opposed to both my sub-and un-conscious mind, where they really should stay until I bid them to enter.  As Steve Martin used to say:  But NO-O-O-O-O!

On Wednesday, my youngest daughter and I took my granddaughter (her niece) to the zoo.  It was Payton's first zoo visit, and the weatherman had predicted a sunny and beautiful 60+ degree day.  Uh, no.  It was cloudy and overcast, with a bite in the breeze and 10 degrees lower than expected.  We didn't let that deter us.  We had a lovely (though tiring) time, and it was nice to take the day off...until arriving home to yet another To Do to add to the list.

Goals were set well before January 1, but the opportunity to work on them is affected by many people, some who really shouldn't even be involved.  But so be it.  I try to take each new "task" as a challenge, telling myself that I can do it, in spite of the metal shelf in the utility room falling over yesterday morning, the granddaughter dumping water, then Pepsi on the floor, just for the sheer joy of it this morning, plumbing problems, and the always-present family drama.  Four daughters=drama to the hilt.

But it's February.  That first rush of the new year has worn off, as we begin to settle into the rest of the year.  With 10 1/2 months to go, there's plenty of time to make it a good one.  Plenty of time to reach and maybe even surpass those goals.  Yes, it'll take some work, and hopefully a smaller list of things clamoring for attention, but anything is possible, right?

So whatever doldrums might settle over us, like dark clouds on a chilly, February day, sometimes you just have to SMILE, take a deep breath, and say, "Yes, I can do this, and it WILL get better!"

How long is it until April arrives?

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO EVERYONE!