Dormant, but not dead

Yesterday was Lincoln's birthday. Is this still the "dead of winter," as my mother used to say? Why is it called that? Yes, everything is dead. Or at least dormant. But January seemed more like "dead" with its near-zero temperatures and the blanching of the snow upon the landscape. This month we have had several mild days and only a little precipitation. Today it has become cloudy and cold again; at least it is not below freezing.

Today is the day we first catch a glimmer of the light at the end of the tunnel. And today major league baseball pitchers and catchers are allowed to officially report for Spring training. In less than two weeks they will be engaged in playing baseball. The season is beginning its long journey which concludes more than eight months hence when the World Series is finished. A lot can happen in that time. This is one of life's punctuation points when I tend to consider what is ahead.

What will be different by then? Will the Stimulus have stimulated us? Will I still have a job? Will America still be attack-free? One can run through all kinds of mental scenarios respecting what could have transpired by the time the last Series game is over. I guess it is the frailty and uncertainty of life itself that makes me wonder. Maybe it is the quiet overcast days that lend themselves to that mood. But here in the "dead" of the season, in the tunnel, there is that light way up ahead.

And where there is light there is life, after all.