This will pass.
This has been the winter of... well, discontent: I want to replace my back door; it's original to the house (1940) and leaks like a sieve. To do that I have to stabilize my sinking back porch. So I paid a company to stabilize the porch, and the 3 season room, and they insisted I needed to move my air conditioner unit, so I paid a separate company to do that. Then the stabilizing company broke up the sidewalk behind my house, installed stabilizers, and left the concrete in a pile. They came back a second time to install a stabilizer where the AC unit was, and took part of the concrete, but said they would have to return for the rest. My child totaled his car, which I had paid for. My son, who was a passenger in that car, got a settlement from the insurance company that is almost exactly as much as my deductible. My auto insurance cost is going up. Huge storm approaches with super cold and snow. My fridge stops working mid-storm; it's really weird to drink melted popsicles while looking at drifts of snow. My backup refrigerator is on the back porch right next to that leaky door and sometimes when the weather is really cold it stops working because it can't cool what's already frozen. But at least we have a backup refrigerator. Also the pile of concrete can't be moved because it's under 8 inches of snow. And then the basement drain freezes and the clothes washer water runs all over the floor, wetting the dirty clothes. I'm grateful the clean clothes are in plastic baskets. Can you imagine if they were wicker laundry baskets? On top of all this I have gastritis, spend a night in the ER, get a prescription and a reminder to reduce stress. And then more snow and my child decides to move to Idaho and actually finds a place to stay there for three months!
I'm counting my blessings; my car battery works and has started regularly. I have food and a warm house as long as you're not in the back porch. Two kind young men came and shoveled the walks, including a path straight across where there's no sidewalk, for the mailman to deliver. I had cash in hand to pay them. I have plenty of broth and herb tea for my poor stomach; I've discovered that gastritis is the stomach equivalent of clenching your teeth.
We will get through this. Eventually. The sun is shining and the days are getting longer. January is always a bit of a gamble; we had colds in the midst of this, too. But it will pass. Spring will come. February has Valentine's day because you need a bright spot with chocolate in the middle of it.
