Good Day Sunshine

When I was a child, my mother always warned me about being a "fair-weather friend". I didn't really understand that until about middle school when I was sitting alone at the lunch table because I wasn't considered cool anymore. My "friends" smiled at me from the popular table and I understood perfectly what it meant.

I like Moscow.

Some people call me crazy. It's true that it's dirty, overcast, and the traffic is terrible, but the eternal optimist in me can't help but see the good side. I always liked the story about Pollyanna because she saw good in everybody and everything. But lately, the crummy weather has me moaning and sighing about this place.

But I've begun to see myself through this lens of fair weather. The snow melted, the sun is shining, and my mood is lifted. The summer last year was so beautiful that I felt it had forgiven the hard winter. Why should the winter have to be forgiven? Moscow seems so near the North Pole, it would be considered uncouth to be overly warm.

A friend of mine in the neighborhood is always pointing out to newcomers how courteous Russian drivers can be. Courteous? After really paying attention, I see it too. There has never been a time when I couldn't merge from a shoulder into an actual lane without somebody letting me it. I have never been run off the road by somebody honking their horn and giving me the bird.

The good weather has also warmed the hinges on my front door as the kids come in and out...in and out. Yesterday we did school in the yard and Numbers 1 and 2 burned ants using a magnifying glass. The sun has so many benefits. I will stop paying for tanning (which, by the way, I do medicinally to ward off severe psoriasis symptoms). I will skim off the winter pounds by walking to my friends' houses, jumping on my bike for a ride, and strolling longer than expected in downtown Moscow.

Call me a fair weather friend. I can take it.