Oprah Moments

Life has been full of Oprah Moments lately. I learned about Oprah Moments from my friend Kate when we were skiing a few winters back. We were just about to get on the ski lift and she excitedly announced she was ready for some Oprah Moments. She explained that Oprah Moments happen when you are sitting quietly on the lift and rising above the trees and everything is silent and cold and you can see the entire valley and you start feeling very profound. Everything looks clear and beautiful and you are aware of your own heart beating and you feel simultaneously very alone and incredibly connected to everything around you. I think Oprah moments happen for her when she is skiing down the mountain too, but I am unfamiliar with this bliss because I fundamentally dislike skiing as I stumble down the hill making WIDE turns on either side of the trail, avoiding any movement faster than 2 miles an hour. Calling them Oprah Moments is a joke, but it stuck.

My Oprah Moments have been happening daily now that Spring is here. It’s becoming clearer each year that I should leave this climate. I don’t realize how truly miserable I am all winter until spring shows up and I feel like someone has taken a plastic bag off my head and I can suddenly breath again. If I lived in a wintery climate year-round, it’s possible I would have taken my own life by now. Spring shows up and all of a sudden I mysteriously start working out again, cutting calories, eating healthy, flossing my teeth, washing my face, reading, turning off the [godamn] tv, listening to more NPR, looking for ways to get involved in society, thinking about going back to school (mind you, i’ve been out of school for less than a year), wanting to have sex again, etc. etc. Life becomes FULL of Oprah Moments. DAMN YOU WINTER! I’m a shell of a person for five months every year and, each spring, I’m surprised to peak out of my crusty lizard suit and re-discover such an inviting world.