Grey and Grisly

Grey and Grisly

No, I’m not describing my husband. Nor myself. Though perhaps ...

I’m looking out at the sky. We did have a walk earlier, of course, so I already knew the colour of the sky. The forecast is dire, with snow and frozen temps. But at the moment, it is just plain grey and grisly.

How easy it is to make more of the weather than is wise. I am speaking from personal experience. When I moved to Scotland from southern California, my first impulse each morning was to draw the curtains and set my mood by the weather. Sunshine, good mood. Grey and grisly, a mood to match.

But every day is a gift, and being a person with a naturally cheerful disposition, I found it singularly unhelpful to set my mood by the clarity of the sky. It just didn’t allow me to continue to be me.

And as I am out in most weathers, I have to admit that the world, in most weathers, still offers breath-taking beauty. Grey skies, for instance, are rarely monochrome. There is often texture, breaks where the glory comes blazing through, promising glimpses of blue on the horizon. 

Just like life. Even at its greyest moments, there are still instants of glory breaking in, and of promises of better skies to come. 

As Scarlett O’Hara says in Gone with the Wind, ‘tomorrow is another day’.