Winter lasts forever...

...but if you try hard enough, there are still a few moments of domestic bliss.


When I saw this scene through the lens of my camera today, that's when I thought I was having a pure moment of domestic bliss. My girls needed lunch. There was some arguing and crying involved. So many options were not acceptable. I was loosing patience, and simultaneously praying for just the right answer that was going to make everything okay, when "Crepes" popped into my mind. When I announced it out loud, all the tears stopped and hot chocolate was added to the menu. Perfect, I thought. I handled that perfectly. I sat them down to a plate full of hot crepes, a bottle of chantilly to do with as they pleased, and admired my piles of beautifully folded laundry. 12:23pm was looking good, chez Les Earnests!

Winter is entirely too long. It just is. I am a girl who loves all four season indiscriminately. I need them all to have complete happiness. But as it turns out, I need only a small dose of winter. Not a very large dose. In February, I need a few days that feel like spring. Even if it disappears and winter comes back, I just need a little something.

Korea can't deliver. The 10-day forecast has nothing above 32 degrees. But there was sunshine today. And the snow has melted, and it hasn't rained for a few days, so the puddles were even dry. That meant at about 3:45pm I could declare it time to go to the play ground.



Henry took his coat off, because it was getting in the way of his game. He's crazy and cool like that, and apparently takes his game really seriously. He asked me to donate my hat because his ears were cold. I told him no, mostly as a joke, but then I wasn't joking, because then my ears would get cold. And then I sat in silence for a bit thinking about how if I were a real mom, I would totally give my cold son the hat right off of my head. Why didn't I give it to him?!




It's weird, we were the only ones there. 23 degrees isn't too cold to be outside. Seriously, just try it. The kids lasted an entire hour. As long as I stood in the direct rays of the sun, I could keep smiling (my face was kind of frozen that way anyway).



Then, when all else fails, go to the flower market. I took the girls on Thursday. There was no other option. Before leaving, again I found myself praying, "let there be tulips, please, please, please".








So now I'm trying that trick again..."let it be spring, please,please, please, please".

TO BE CONTINUED...