Coming In Up the Channel.

It's officially Spring, and time to get depressed every time I go through the employee entrance and walk in under the flourescents. It's rainy and cold today, though: in like a lion.

I remember heading off to work one gorgeous spring morning when we were having a roof put on our house. It was bright and sunny with no wind, and maybe 50 degrees. The worker bees were having a great time sitting on the roof peak drinking Wawa coffee and enjoying the new day. I remember thinking how lucky they were to be able to work outside in the healthy air and the light of the sun. I was envious.

As happens all too frequently in Pennsylvania, we had a cold snap. The next morning it was cloudy and about twelve degrees, the wind was blowing, and all I could think about when I came out of my house was getting into my car and getting it warmed up. The guys huddled on the roof looked like snowmen in all their clothes, and they were no longer having fun. And I was no longer envious.

You could envy these fishermen coming in on the tide, couldn't you? A beautiful, warm evening, a calm sea, God's in His heaven. Try not to think of fishing in the winter, though, of blowing surf, freezing temperatures, crashing waves, pouring rain, and above all, danger. The thought makes flourescent lights a little more tolerable.

September, 2004: