Today we watched the sunset over the Pacific Ocean at Laguna Beach. This one beautiful perfect moment with the surf in my ears and in the presence of my favourite people may be enough to carry me through February and March. It remains cold in our northern home at this time of year. Cold and dark and snowy. It is this time of year that I struggle through every year.

In December we have the anticipation and general merriment of Christmas to tide us over. Come January we are left with little to lift up our spirits in the long dark nights. Last year's March was the coldest on record for our hometown. Cold. Frost bitten skin in seconds kind of cold. Biting painful cold. Which would have been much easier to weather had we remembered to watch a sunset on a southerly beach or a sunrise over an ocean for that matter back in February. The existence of such a simple moment just once during our long winter is enough to remind me of our lovely summer, long days, late sunsets, early sunrises and festival after festival of enchanting music, alluring arts, and hour upon hour of time with the most interesting people I know. That moment on the beach was for me a reminder of the summer I live for.

We remembered to have that moment in 2007, in 2008 and this year. But somehow, somehow I forgot it's importance in 2009 and I barely got through that cold, cold March. Right now I feel I could survive anything March of 2010 throws me. Don't let me forget in 2011.

I wrote this post of February 13 while we were away on on vacation. I am just now getting to post it. Yep, I am that far behind, one can only imagine the current state of my house.