This whole winter thing is getting to be a drag. It’s not that the weather was particularly bad today –it wasn’t; with sunny skies and temps in the high teens. But there’s just something sad about how going outside is such a generally unpleasant thing. Every time I remember something that I need to retrieve from the car, or realize that it’s time to walk the dog, a part of me shudders.

You get used to the cold. And yet, you don’t.

It was recommended to me a few weeks ago to start keeping a gratitude journal. I guess my continual moaning about life has the tendency to drive people (including myself) a little crazy. Rather than just whine and stew about every little thing, the challenge is to start seeing where there are actually some GOOD things in my life right now.

Here’s where it would pay off to be more of a pollyanna.

The easy thing, of course, would simply be to say every day that I’m grateful for my husband Devin and my dog Paco, our nice home, and our continued good health. While none of those are things I take for granted, my search for gratitude should probably be spread a little wider, and should be more creative.

The one thing I came up with today is that now when I see the letter “W”, I have positive associations with it (as opposed to when a certain individual was President — back then that letter made me cringe). Because here, an italicized capital W is the symbol for the state university. While most of the time when you see it on houses or cars or signs it’s a reference to the sporting team (presumably football?), I nevertheless am reminded of the institution itself. The university brings life and vitality to the town we live in, positively affecting everything from politics to food to fashion. I enjoy walking or running through campus (and maybe, in the spring, biking?) not just because of the stately buildings and manicured lawns. I also love the fact that there are people everywhere you look and a certain youthful enthusiasm that spills over into the town at large (to wit: the huge snowball fight on Campus in December).

Wisconsin, as I informed Devin, still isn’t on the top ten list of places I want to live. But being here I have met some incredibly wonderful people and have had some deeply meaningful personal experiences. So even though I hate the “w” in winter, I do like the letter “w” in Wisconsin.