Like being back in Russia...

When I wake up in the mornings, there is one thing that I always do. I get up out of bed and head straight for the window. This is how I judge the weather every morning and how it may impact what I'm wearing. However, this morning, when I peeked out my window, my thoughts were occupied with other thoughts than what the weather would be like.

What I saw was a fairly dense fog. Visibility was maybe a couple hundred yards or so. I looked at the plants, grass and other foliage and found them to be a different color than normal. They were completely white! I was immediately rushed back, in my mind, to my two years that I spent in Russia.

The wintertime was extremely frigid. One winter I spent there, I had to endure an entire week with temperatures that never got above -35 degrees. Yes, it was quite miserable at times and it was nearly impossible to stay warm, but I never regret living through that.

There was one thing that made living through this all worth it. Most mornings, all of the humidity would freeze to the trees, bushes and plants and make everything a pure white. It was almost as if every morning, the land was being purified. It marked a new day. It always gave me the determination and motivation to do better than I had done the previous day.

This is what I experienced today as I looked out the window. I felt a little home sick for Russia, but I was really happy that a little bit of Russia could come to me this morning.