Two sides of a coin.  Yin and Yang.  Juxtaposition.  Oxymoron.  Paradox.  Jumbo Shrimp.

Just call me an illustrative thesaurus of harsh contrast.

I went to the beach today.  Amidst the flying flakes.  The frigid temperatures.  The howling wind.

Photo Jennifer Butler Basile

As I looked at the caked snow curved across the sand, looking like the negative of the waves that rushed up and left the graceful arc of its crust, I thought how perfect it was that I was there on this stormy morning when my children were elsewhere.  When I already felt suspended in some surreal alternative reality.  It is truly bizarre when the nonstop duties of mothering fall away.  Like going to that place of sun and refreshing surf when it’s overcast and chilling to the bone.  There is a void not unlike the cupped depressions in the sand where the winter waves eat away at the coast.  It’s gorgeous, but it feels so foreign it’s unnerving.  I’m reminded of the needed buffer that comes with vacations – the time it takes to unwind before you can truly enjoy the relaxation of vacation.  But there is no time here.  I must embrace this as swiftly as the sand that sweeps across the snow drifts leaving a fine layer of brown sugar.  That is what I must remember.  That there is always a bit of sweet and beauty atop even the harshest landscapes.  You just have to train your eyes and heart and mind to work in concert – and do so allegro.