Growing up in South Florida, my family from NY would visit each winter.  And my aunt would always extend her visit about three times.  She would always plan to stay an extra week after my uncle and cousins went home.  And then would keep changing her flight each week so that she could "have just one more week of sunshine." 

As a kid, I found this statement bizarre.  I would constant remark that we had the same sun in Florida that they had in New York.  Not that I minded her staying longer.  I actually loved it.  But the comment that came up every time she changed her flight each and every year sort of baffled me.  As I grew older, it was a running joke in my head.  "Oh let me guess, you're staying longer to get another week of sunshine?!"

And then years ago I moved up here near my family in the North Pole Upstate NY.  Oh.  I get it now.

Because, yes childhood me, we do only have one sunshine in the sky.  But adult me now understands that you can go weeks without actually seeing said sunshine.  It can become a thing of lore up here in the heart of winter.  It exists.  But it can start to feel like more of a belief system than a tangible reality.

Yesterday though....was amazing!  Cheerful, yellow, sunshiney all day long!  The whole day just felt extra happy, despite feeling a little crappy with a cough that appeared out of nowhere. 

I am forever saying that I can handle any temperature up here.  I don't love blustery cold days, but I can deal with them just fine.  As long as I see the sun shining from time to time.  It really, truly does make the BIGGEST difference in my mental state.  A little sunshine has the power to take me from Eeyore to Tigger. 

Oh Mr. Golden Sun...please shine down on me more often!  You're like a great big New England happy pill.