Seizing the Sunshine

Taipei recently ended a 22 day spell of no sunshine. The brilliant sun has been out for about a week now and wow, I feel like I must have been holding my breath and now I can finally breathe again. I have a hard time getting outdoors with Kirstie and Katelin and the other day depression started creeping up on me. Allen encouraged me to take Kirstie out to the river park so we went with 2 rubber balls and had a great time. I had forgotten how close the river park is to our place and I thought, "Why can’t I do this every day?" We were only out for about 20 minutes, but it did wonders for my spirits. Yesterday we sat in Kirstie’s bay window soaking in the sun. If I closed my eyes I could imagine that I was outside lying in a hammock in a spacious yard with trees, grass, all things green and natural. (I remember cold Iowa winters when I was little and how I used to enjoy lying on the carpet beside our big windows with the sun streaming down on me.) We just have this desire to seize the sunshine. In fact, it took a lot of will to keep ourselves from abandoning responsibility and fleeing to Kenting yesterday. We were able to satisfy ourselves by planning a trip to White Sands Beach on the North coast this Tuesday. I think it will be too cold for playing in the water, but we plan to take a kite, sand toys, and a picnic lunch.