It's Andy Fish!

This moment is not your life.

It’s sometimes hard to remember this when you’re out there in the bitter cold trying to figure out where to put this latest pile of snow, your shovel has given up the ghost and your mind and body are not that far behind.

Even in the darkest of times try to embrace what you can. I tree branch that makes an odd shape, animal tracks through your yard, just breath and appreciate what you can and understand it will get better, no matter how bad things become.

“The view from the tallest mountain can only truly be appreciated when we’ve been to the lowest valley.” I think that was Richard Nixon.

I’ve had my share of darkness; divorce, poverty, bills mounting, little hope at that moment. I’ve never truly felt hunger, I’ve never had to visit a food kitchen although that’s likely more pride than need. I’ve eaten my share of Ramen noodles or bread and cheese as my latest meal.

I’ve had more than my share of light. Money, friends, success, family– I can tell you without fail it’s easy to lose the appreciation of what you have when you have it– and only when it’s gone do you have a sense of what you had.

Does that make sense?

This winter has been a pretty typical winter, but we’ve enjoyed pretty atypical winter’s for the past few years. One year I think we only got 5″ for the whole season and much warmer than normal temperatures. The year everyone from the Farmer’s Almanac (RIP) to the Weather channel predicted a rough one– Polar Vortex they said. Cold they said. Snow they said– and we have gotten plenty of all of it and we’re barely halfway through it.

But this moment is not our life.