aging

OMG! I am shocked. I just discovered that I have more than a few grey hairs.

I still can't believe it. I keep looking in the big mirror and try to understand why right now and why me. I know that it is normal but I am scared to see myself with grey hair. I don't feel old at all and I always thought that only old people get grey hair. Old people like my grandparents, not young people like me. I don't want to have grey hair so young.

I never paid attention to these details and so I didn't notice that my parents were becoming grey too. My mother may have blond hair, but she colors it so it is hard to really notice the grey. My father's hair turned grey a few years ago but I didn't really notice it.

Now I have something else to be concerned about. What is the reason for my grey hair- am I aging or are there other causes?! Maybe my new country isn't so good for me. That is hard to believe! I read that being stressed and worried can make your hair gray. Even though there is no evidence to support this idea, I honestly believe that I am not stressed or worried.

I am scared thinking that one day my grey hair will be more visible. The change is inevitable. I don't know how to deal with this and to accept this way of aging. For some it is a beginning of the end, others accept it as a sign of wisdom.

I can explain and even found a nice reason for my wrinkles. They are my "happy wrinkles" because I am a happy person and I smile and laugh a lot. For my hair turning grey I have to find some other nice explanation. . .

winter storm

The winter came like never before. It was the first major snowstorm since I moved to Washington DC a year ago. It reminded me of my childhood winters when there was a lot of snow and schools were closed.

Here it started to snow one afternoon and continued throughout next day. It was so beautiful when I woke up as I looked out my bedroom window. I was jumping around, happy like a child. It was a brief period of happiness because I soon realized that we did not have power in the house. Everything needs electricity in our house: the stove, heat and hot water. With a cold house and without a warm breakfast I still enjoyed the snow. I went out by myself because my hubby is from California, and is not so fond of the snow. It was so quiet and so white. The snow came up to my knees. The branches of the trees were bent over from the heavy snow and the cars were buried. There were not a path to walk any more.

When I went back in the house, which was like an igloo by then, I found J wearing his winter jacket and gloves sitting under a blanket waiting for electricity to come on. What can you do to have fun in this kind of situation? Not too much! It was too cold in the house to play scrabble or other games. There were more things to do outside. So we went for a walk with our friends and their dog around the neighborhood. I was surprised to see people cross-country skiing through the streets. And it wasn't just a few people, there were lots of people doing this kind of work out. It was very interesting and seemed like a cool thing to do when you are stuck in the snow and the gym is closed.

We started to get hungry, and could not cook yet so we walked down to the neighborhood hang out praying that the restaurants had power and were open. Luckily, half of them were. We enjoyed a nice, warm late lunch and some margaritas. When we got back home the power was back on..........

Because of this storm the federal government shut down for 4 days, the schools were closed as were many offices. DC hibernated for a wile.

Just two days after this first storm finished, we are now expecting a second one. There will definitely be mountains of snow for a while.