Relative Something

It doesn’t do any good to complain. I know that. That doesn’t seem to sway me from moping about the recent destruction of what started out to be a fabulous snow season this year. It melted big time, then refroze. Next, it warmed up again and rained, turning the snow on the ground into snowcone slush. Since that time, we’ve had some sleet mix and a dusting of flakes that covered the crusty frozen surface.

The snow cover is now a crunchy mess of greatly reduced value for most forms of recreation.

We received about a half-hour notice last night that somebody was coming to pick up the 85 bales of hay that the nutritionist frowned on feeding our rescued Thoroughbreds. Bad timing for me, since my back was teetering on the verge of a painful disc problem all day.

Somehow, both my degenerating spine and my bum shoulder survived tossing bales, and the shed is clear to receive a fresh batch from a different supplier next week. That put a crimp in our plan to sneak away to the lake place in Hayward for a few days after Christmas. We were given a date and a time when the hay would arrive, and that was that. We weren’t about to argue. Our response was, “Thank you very much.”

When someone tells you they can deliver hay, you do whatever it takes to make it convenient for them.

Well, while everyone was distracted by this and that in their lives, we have somehow arrived at the day before Christmas. Oh, you saw this coming? I should have been more aware. My online community was having an exchange of memories about the times the Santa myth unraveled for people.

I still remember the awe I felt when my dad told me, as I first appeared bleary-eyed one Christmas morning, that I just missed it. He said he had just heard the sound of reindeer hooves on our roof moments earlier. As time passed, I struggled to reconcile that powerful emotional “truth” I experienced with the logic that was debunking everything else about the Santa Claus ruse we were being sold.

My online friend shared the best description of the miracle of Santa. Sure, some of it is made up, but it’s based on this: it inspires people to experience the joys of giving gifts to others and making them happy, and it happens all over the world on the very same day.

That is something worth believing in for a lifetime.

“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

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