Where does the sun shine?

Certainly not anywhere that I have been recently.

Oh yes, we have had the odd hour, the even less seldom day, but in general gray reigns supreme throughout Europe. I took a 6-hour train ride from Geneva, Switzerland to Stuttgart, Germany Saturday and it rained the whole way! There was a 10-minute bit of blue sky early Sunday morning, then back to the gray.

To the point that even I am starting to miss the sun: if I say “even I” that is because the main reason that I returned to Europe way back when was because I was tired of seeing the sun every day! I know, I know, many of you find that hard to understand, but once I had known seasons I missed them. In Southern California there are many advantages weather-wise, but seasons aren’t one of them.

Still the lack of sunshine is starting to wear even on my nerves.

Two things alleviate that: the weekend trip to Stuttgart, Germany to celebrate the 80^th birthday of one of my husband’s university friends and the short movie I received this morning from a friend in California.

I had a moment of epiphany: where is the sun?

In the laughs of my friends; in their eyes when we share memories that go back 45 years; in their remembrance of my husband, their friend, who has been gone now for 18 years, but who lives on in their thoughts; the sun lives in the hearts of my friends whether those of long date or those recently met. The sun lives in love – that I have received, that I have given. The sun lives in the smiles of those I encounter every day.

Although I would like the physical sun to shine a tad more than it has been doing, I’ll take the friend’s sunshine any and every day to lighten the darker corners of my mind.

another year, another storm