Summer, a nice place to visit

My wife and I recently went back to Tucson to visit with some family for the holidays.  The Southwest has a unique, exotic beauty.  The sky is never so open as it is in the desert.  My wife finds a certain freedom and joy in such wide open skies and distance horizons.  While I on the other hand find it somewhat...oppressive.  At least during the day.  The sunsets are certainly beautiful in the desert, and at night the stars are spectacular.

An Arizona sunset captured while on vacation

It felt really good to visit Arizona during the winter and get a taste of warmer weather.  A blizzard had just hit the East Coast, and it was nice to have a quick escape.  But it was even nicer to return to glorious winter after our brief vacation.  My world just doesn't feel complete without four seasons.  Enjoying warm weather during winter is like eating breakfast for dinner; it's a fun, exciting change on occasion, but I wouldn't want to do it all the time.  I love summer, but if I get too much it loses it shine.  I spent a decade or so living in Arizona and I grew very tired of summer and sunny days.  Constant summer is like eating your favorite meal everyday, without variety things begin to taste bland and boring.  

But I don't just love winter because it makes me appreciate warmer weather.  Cold weather forces me to live in the moment, which is sometimes hard for me.  The cold can make even an ordinary day an adventure or a battle. Winter tests us all and keeps us sharp and strong.  And how could I go without the beauty of snow or the joy of sledding and snowball fights and building snow tunnels and snow men!  Hot chocolate never tastes as good as it does in the winter.  Yes, my soul needs winter.  Although sometimes, like exercise, I don't realize how good it is for me until I have it.

Our beach shortly after returning home 

I love winter as much as I love summer, spring and fall.  And though I loved taking a brief vacation from winter, it feels so good to return to normal.

"If all the year were playing holidays, to sport would be as tedious as to work." -William Shakespeare   King Henry IV Part I  Act 1 scene 2