Rainy Days and Fridays

Corvallis has been declared a natural disaster area. Classes were cancelled today because the flooding is so bed you can't get anywhere. Everything has been eerily quiet. The news is reporting about the little girl that died in the flood, sirens blare, and a close friend found out some absolutely devastating news. So this is what January gloom looks like?

I actually had been making fun of people all week for their discussions on surviving January. "So this is actually a thing?" I'd say. "I mean I've heard of it, but I didn't know that this was actually something people took so seriously." I was mocked about my living in a place filled with eternal rays of sunshine where palm trees sway and everyone drinks cocktails out of hollowed out coconuts in their swim clothes while being serenaded by the Beach Boys. I planned on giving them the truth- triple digit heat, steroid pumped bros, pretentious suburban moms, plastic surgery, and cans of redbull- but y'know what? People need a California. People need a Hawaii. They need Paris, and Rome, and the Amazon. They need the Great Wall, and Picasso. They need something to dream about no matter how off base that dream is. They need to believe in some sort of magic in the world, that love is real and it exists and is attainable. They need to smile and laugh and look on the right side.

I've been told I am very good at comforting people. Maybe I am, but whenever it comes to things that really matter I always feel like I have no idea what to say. I try and make people laugh when they are sad. Without fail, if someone comes to me with a problem, I try to be funny, say silly things, makeup songs. But then the important part comes and you have to leave the humor behind. I try to give good advice, I try to say word that I think the person needs to hear, and to relate as much as I can. But in the end all I can do is share their pain and just try to be a friend. To hold their hand while they cry, and then say, we need some magic right now. So we watch something like Midnight in Paris, and for just a second the world is at peace. Beauty has returned and life has some meaning again. There is order in the universe. Put the pain and sadness is still there. And I am left with only the ability to pray, and give hugs, and hope.

And I can be thankful that my own life is blessed enough that I can at least try to be a blessing to others. So I will not let the Winter Blues get to me. I will wear red, and laugh, and try to be some of the sunshine I know so well. And I will listen to Karen Carpenter and smile and count my every blessing.