It Depends – on the Moment, the Day, the Mood

The other day Dawn of Change is Hard blogged about her romance with Cheez-its and in that blog she asked “what’s your favorite snack?”. I started to answer in my comment and soon concluded that this answer could be a blog all its own. Because – it depends. On the moment, the day, the mood. Sometimes it’s salty, sometimes it’s sweet. Sweet, of course, means chocolate. Sometimes it’s sweet and salty – thank goodness I’ve found some breakfast bars that fit that bill. It’s all in the mood – and the moment. If the weather is hot, the mood might call for Gelato. If the weather is cold, the mood does not want cold. See? It all depends.

Sometimes the sun shines brightest in the dark

Then I realized that most of my answers to Cee’s Share Your World challenges take the same approach. It all depends – on the moment, the day, the mood.

Now I wonder – am I indecisive? Or have I practiced too hard seeing more than one side of a topic? Do I feel confident in my ability to be fair, to be rational, or do I need to be more decisive? It depends – on the moment, the day, the mood.

Before Lily, we had chipmunks. Now, they stay in hiding. Or have moved out. Not sure which.

The photos in this blog are from my archives. Since I’m not getting out to take new ones – because the weather has made our world mostly gray of late and because leaving home very often is difficult now. So these photos all say – to me – there is a great deal of beauty in my world. Some of you might question my definition of beauty with some of these photos – which just confirms that it depends – on the moment, the day, the mood. See?

Do you love staying in the house and reading a book? Or cooking meals for your family or yourself? Would you rather be outside in the air, hiking, walking, birdwatching, meditating, just being? For me, it depends. Yep, on the moment, on the day, on the mood. Although to be honest, rarely would I prefer to be inside cooking meals.

In a conversation recently, one of the people mentioned being frustrated because they feel “frozen in time”. It struck me then, that is where I am far too often these days. There are many things I want to do – change the accent wall color, install the glass tile backsplash that I bought all the supplies for in the spring, do something about some of the flooring. Travel, to the coast, back east to visit relatives and old friends, across the seas to spend time with my kids. Sleep late. Eat what I want to when I want to with total disregard to “mealtimes”. Go explore new places to walk the dogs. Which of those calls me most loudly depends. Yes, on the moment, the day, the mood.

The sun shines through, but it’s unable to thaw this feeling. It’s just how it is for now. That desired thaw depends – but not so much on the mood, or the moment, or the day. More upon the next plot twist in life. Our lives have an author, it seems, and all we can do is follow the path that author lays out for us – we can decide how we handle the plot twists, the directions we’re sent. That is our choice.

Do we have tears in our eyes because we are fighting the direction, or do we have tears in our eyes because, despite the twists, turns and difficulties in our paths, we see the beauty in this path? It depends – on the moment, the day, the mood.

Do we weep or do we sparkle? It depends.

Do we reach for the sky, shedding the detritus life sometimes pours over our heads?

Or do we remain unmoving, letting our lives rust away?

As we get older, as we become outdated, do we snarl, resent, try to hide the aging? Or do we try to keep up with the world the best we can, loving our aging beauty, forgiving ourselves for being less than up-to-date?

It depends, doesn’t it? Really it depends on the moment, the day, the mood – and much much more. Some days it is hard to hold ourselves up straight, proud and strong. Some days our eyes close to the beauty around us.

It depends – on the moment, the day, the mood.