Lemon skies

If you live in the Midwest, you probably fall into one of two categories: You either make it through the Winter bitching and moaning and drinking large amounts of alcohol, or you go on and on about the character-building-harshness of snow, sleet, and slush. 

I think I definitely used to lean to the latter. And it's true: you can never fully appreciate Spring until you have lived through a harsh winter. In fact, that day, that first warm-ish day in March or April that smells like wet earth and months of freezer burn, that day that tempts you to rip the ugly plastic from the windows of your soul and toss them open and stick your head out there and scream "Oh my goodness I've never been so happy in all my life....!" What, you don't feel that way on that day? On that first, warm-ish day, that first afternoon that signals the end of the harsh Winter and the early beginnings of Spring?

Well, I was going to say that that first gorgeous day was the reason I was still alive, I look forward to it so much every year. I was going to say that it was the key point in my pro-harsh-Chicago-Winter argument, the one where I go on and on about how Winter is the only thing that can truly prepare your soul to enjoy the true beauty of Spring.

But this year I feel like I'm dying and I'm ready to toss my character right into the garbage can and head to Tennessee, maybe Georgia. Chris thinks it's because I've been running more this Winter than I have any other Winter in my life, and my training takes me out into the dark, cold, windy nights where it's not unusual to run under thundering skies in a storm of sleet. My training takes me out into the (very) brisk early mornings by the lake, too, where the wind is so cold it actually burns its way through my lungs, brings copious tears to my eyes, freezes my hair, turns my lips purple.

Needless to say, the girls and I have been desperately searching for something to let us know that our suffering has not been in vain, that Spring really is just around the corner.

The answer: LEMONS.

Lemonade, lemon pound cake, lemon sugar glaze. Lemon, lemon, lemon. And all things yellow. Please. Please. Please let this end. My character is about as built up as it is going to get, at least in terms of weather-induced-character-growth. I just want to open my windows. Feel a little lemon sky on my skin.

Soaked with lemon sugar glaze