Bay City, Michigan 48706
Front Page 04/23/2024 18:29 About us
www.mybaycity.com January 12, 2014
(Prior Story)   Columns ArTicle 8750   (Next Story)

Thinking Out Loud
Home Sweet Home

January 12, 2014       Leave a Comment
By: Diane Szczepanski

Printer Friendly Story View

Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.
Edith Stilwell


I've been a bit of a disgruntled summer lover of late.

The ferociousness of this season has been taking it's toll on me. I haven't been taking my usual walks this winter. The icy, crusty sidewalks are particularly hazardous for the brisk pace I usually employ, which is known as 'breakneck speed'.

Not wanting a self-fulfilling prophecy, I've been breaking out DVD's and using my living room as a gym, in an attempt to stay on some type of home exercise regimen. Which is not all bad, but sometimes amounts to nothing more than vigorous stretching, due to the proximity of the fish tank and the coffee table.

I also haven't been doing my usual amount of socializing either. The gusty winds and frigid temperatures just haven't appealed to my sense of wanting to get out and about as I usually do.

After a few moments of cabin fever and feeling slightly snarly to my fellow man, I decided enough was enough and I needed to come to peace with this frozen tundra and make the next few months about reflection, rejuvenation and focusing on some creative projects that have been gathering dust.

What I've found surprisingly, is a peacefulness to the stillness. A reprieve from the rat race and fast pace and constant forward motion.

I have found that my little abode is actually a pretty comfortable winter retreat and a place I can wait out below zero wind chills. I've found new pleasures to enjoy and a sense of patience while Mother Nature does her thing.

The small comforts of home, a soft throw, worn slippers, the dancing light of a candle, warm the soul, even when our bones are chilled.

Hunkering down in our little personal nests with a hot tea and thoughtful book during nature's deep freeze, may be the universe's way of showing us how to slow down and appreciate our own cozy cocoon we've built.

For that reason alone, maybe winter isn't so bad after all...



Printer Friendly Story View
Prior Article

February 10, 2020
by: Rachel Reh
Family Winter Fun Fest is BACC Hot Spot for 2/10/2020
Next Article

February 2, 2020
by: Kathy Rupert-Mathews
MOVIE REVIEW: "Just Mercy" ... You Will Shed Tears, or at Least You Should
Agree? or Disagree?


Diane Szczepanski

Business-woman by day, confessed boot addict by night and 'wanna-be' writer, music lover and proud Mom of an awesome guitar playing, teen son.

More from Diane Szczepanski

Send This Story to a Friend!       Letter to the editor       Link to this Story
Printer-Friendly Story View


--- Advertisments ---
     


0200 Nd: 04-19-2024 d 4 cpr 0






12/31/2020 P3v3-0200-Ad.cfm

SPONSORED LINKS



12/31/2020 drop ads P3v3-0200-Ad.cfm


Designed at OJ Advertising, Inc. (V3) (v3) Software by Mid-Michigan Computer Consultants
Bay City, Michigan USA
All Photographs and Content Copyright © 1998 - 2024 by OJA/MMCC. They may be used by permission only.
P3V3-0200 (1) 0   ID:Default   UserID:Default   Type:reader   R:x   PubID:mbC   NewspaperID:noPaperID
  pid:1560   pd:11-18-2012   nd:2024-04-19   ax:2024-04-23   Site:5   ArticleID:8750   MaxA: 999999   MaxAA: 999999
Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)