Pick your head up and open your eyes.

I know how you feel.

I know what it's like when all you can see is what's missing.

I've been there before and most likely I'll be there again.

I'm not here to tell you life is perfect or easy or pain-free, but to remind you that life

is happening all around you, forever changing.

It's hope and its opportunity never never more than a stones throw away.

And that although it can seem tempting or even reasonable to think that tomorrow will just be more of today,

that now is forever, don't.

You're merely moving through the seasons of life.

The ups and downs that constitute our most prized possessions,

our most beautiful memories.

It's an invitation and nothing more.

And what I hope you understand is that it's right now. In life's winter, when everything feels, well, dead, cold, black and white,

that you have to see life in color. And look, we all know winters can be long, sometimes real long.

But if you can find it in your heart to ride it out,

you'll understand that what's in front of you is a door left a jar

separating this chapter and the next. It's no more a burden than

a blessing. I've always found comfort in the idea that winter is officially a beginning,

with everything ahead of you, spring-loaded.

And during this time, as snow falls and coats the world in white,

as the ordinary, even for a moment in time, becomes a surreal,

...