Let it snow

"Oh, mirror in the sky,
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?"

-- Stevie Nicks, Landslide

My weekend got off to a good start.

My first major project at work was kind of "stolen" from a guy who has been doing it for many years. I was coached how to handle him ("He's not exactly pissed, but... he's pissed.") and went my own way, knocked out a few prototypes, and man, do I wish I had the email on hand to copy here... the one he sent to dozens of people gushing. Now, before you think I'm bragging, I should note that I sat through a presentation of past issues and knew it wouldn't be hard to one-up them. And I turned in something quite ordinary.

But he circulated my name via email throughout the company, which made me feel great. And I made the reportedly "difficult" editor very happy, and if he's as quirky as they say he is, I probably scored a few extra points.

Speaking of points, the damn Steelers lost. They didn't even try until the end. The people here take their football seriously. And they are so pessimistic, as if they paid Cowher's salary. It's funny to observe though, something I've always noticed when I called home on Sundays when I was in Florida. "We should have ran [sic] the ball," or "We shouldn't have a false start on offense." my dad would say. I have been to my brother's house for the past two games and listened to his friends badmouth my Steelers constantly... I'm gonna stay home next week and we'll see if they win. Wow, those superstitions took hold again pretty quickly. :)

I drove in snow for the first time today. I turned onto my brother's street and suddenly, there was snow. Other streets had been cleared. I slid, I slipped, I parked. My brother made fun of me for taking up three parking spaces after driving on snow for 20 feet, and he re-parked my car. Later he warmed up my car and turned it around so I could drive out. Hey, it was on a hill, what can I say.

My brother and I played in his back yard with Zoe today then walked through the cemetery behind his house. Most of the graves nearest his house were from the 30s and 40s. Many headstones were in another language, I'm guessing Polish. One thing that strikes me now is that... that is something I would never see in Florida. The history. The richness. There were graves of people who died in 1918 with fresh flowers on them.

I was reminded that I have to go visit Mom's grave. There are so many pictures and memories around the house and the city, and Zoe keeps telling me she wants to get a new mom for me, LOL. I'm quite happy with the one I have, I keep telling her. Even with all these sad memories overwhelming me, I'm happy.

I want to believe I'm where I belong.