Shut Your Eyes and Think of Somewhere, Somewhere Cold and Caked in Snow.

Yesterday I was driving home after another VERY long day at the "office". I rounded the exit from Memorial onto Crowchild and was blown away with a phenomenon that only seems to happen when our days are the shortest, nights are longest, darkest.  In the mountains they call it Alpenglow, to urbanites it is the golden light which makes the core of our city look like something far greater than steel, concrete and glass, mostly designed somewhere in the middle of the last century. Our winters can be long, cold, grey. Don't get me wrong, we are lucky compared to places where it is longer, colder and greyer but still, this is the time of the year it can be a little bit harder to get through the day with a smile, maybe simply because the days are all a little shorter. This glow was a reminder to me that there is always a little light, always something remarkable even in the time of year Canadians just tend to "get through". This view of my downtown almost brought me to tears. Something so simple as the way the winter light hit the glass that stuck in my brain. The saying, we've all heard probably too many times,  that every cloud has its silver lining. The "Urban" Glow was that silver lining to what is a bit of a tough go lately.

My biggest lesson from this is taking the opportunity to notice my surroundings, take stock of what inspires me. The simpler the better.