Into the Season of Winter

It’s January 8th, two days after the Three Wise Men visited, one day after I removed all the lovely holiday decorations from my home and cleaned a section of the basement for storage, and on this day, finally recognized the continuing dark days of winter. We are now into the season of winter. What to do! What to do with what many say is the monotony of cold and short days often overcast with shades of grey. Mind you, not like that book title, but still eaving an earie feeling of potential doom in some creative minds.

I settle in for the duration of this darker season. Some say it’s the price we pay for spring. Not me. For me, I think of all the murder mysteries I’ve read, written by Scandinavian, German, mid-west American, and finally New England writers. Winter is almost a call to our most creative ideas to plot on mystery. My brain, despite its love of mystery, is also wired as an optimist. Perhaps that’s why I not only don’t mind the winter season, but see it as a backdrop in which to envision the human condition’s ability to endure, survive, and confront challenges. I am not personally comfortable with perfection. Probably because I have never attained perfection. What I am good at is work and laughter and kindness and love.

So forgive my imperfections please. Know that I will work to write my new mystery in this backdrop of overcast weather supported by my love of life and people. I remember in every word I write the importance of my fellow man and woman and their struggle to understand the actions of others. We all struggle to understand.

K. B. Pellegrino