Death and the long winter......

Strange title isn't it? We had two mice named Suki and Fergie. Sweet little white mice, sweet in nature, and fun as pets. A few weeks ago, Fergie passed, and not to have Suki all alone we adopted Clara and Lutcey. Well we knew Suki's time was short lived and we do believe she suffered a small stroke, for the last few days of her life she seemed to be paralyzed on one side. We came home last Thursday and Suki was stiff. Her tiny feet frozen in time, breathing no more. Grace was in full drama mode, running to the pantry, getting a zip lock bag, preparing to place her in the freezer chest with Fergie so we can have a proper buriel in the spring. As I sealed the bag and said good bye to our little friend, Grace insisted on being the one to place her in the freezer. I heart her telling Suki that she was healthy now, and that she would be with Fergie. I thinking that this was going to be a "teachable" moment was busy trying to think of words of wisdom that I could impress upon her. All of a sudden I heart her racing up the basement stairs shouting, "Mom, mom, look what I found! A can of frozen pink lemonade! Can we make it? Can we mom?" So much for wisdom and grief. I guess it doesn't take much to excite our family! :) Winter has been long. Piles of snow lay everywhere and it was below zero again this morning. No wonder people feel depressed. A person needs a certain amount of sunshine in their bones. Last night at the Master Gardener's class our lesson dealt with turf, and fertilizer. It was so hard to imagine the thick, green carpeted surfaces they spoke of. How I long for spring, for a patch of grass. Last year the winter flew by and in part I think because I was a newcomer into AA. There was so much to learn and do, and now this year, it's more quiet. I no longer meet with my sponsor unless I need to, and to tell the truth I haven't been hitting too many meetings due to schedule/sickness conflicts. I feel a big off balance and seem to be searching for the answer to show up right in front of my face. I don't deal with depression well, it just makes me want to sleep. So if any of you have a suggestion or to to beat the winter "blahs" let me know, I could really use a few right now......