Hello all,

I recently had a realization that for those of us in the north, Groundhog Day is a win-win. If our man Punxsutawney Phil doesn’t see his shadow, we get an early spring. If he does see his shadow, we get six more weeks of winter…which for us here in Vermont is still an early spring! If spring really sprung here in mid-March, we’d be ecstatic.

Like most things in life, Groundhog Day comes down to relativity and perspective. Relativity is inescapable. Perspective is mutable and slippery, and it takes effort and practice to keep a perspective that keeps you going — or rather, helps you get back up after being knocked down. Everybody gets knocked down. Being able to get back up is the trick.

Why am I writing this? First, it seems I do well reminding myself of this stuff in the middle of the winter to stave off them winter blues. Second, I see this cycle play out every day watching my kids go from joy to meltdown to joy in a never-ending circle that shows me the incredible resilience of human beings. And third, due to a set of circumstances beyond any control, we are bringing back some articles from the past since that other perpetual cycle, winter illness, has caught up with us hard this week.

We’ll bounce back next week. Thanks for reading.

Liam
liam@smalldog.com