I need the sunshine

It's what my mother, mama, always said. I need the sunshine, Leisa. If ever a woman suffered SAD, it was my mama.
Mary Lou, an almost perpetually happy woman, woke with the chickens, a smile on her face and humming something before she poured the first glass of iced tea. My mother occasionally drank coffee but iced tea was her "go to" drink. I remember on school mornings she didn't iron a dress or make breakfast before she got her tea. You wanted her to get her tea too.
Like flowers need rain, my mother needed sunshine. After the iced tea came the opening of all the curtains to let the light in..  She went from one end of the house to the other opening curtains and windows, if weather permitted. Sunshine released her from the night, you could see it on her face.
Likewise, she hated dark, gray days. It was as if someone drew out her very last breathe. I liken it to dementors in the Harry Potter movies, they come to devour his very soul.
Like a bear in hibernation my mother would don her winter armor- snuggly socks, house shoes and always a bath robe on over her clothes with EVERY light in the house on.

I'm not sure she was ever depressed but she was surely down when the sun didn't shine.
Then, like a child looking forward to Christmas she counted down the days to December 21st.
Promptly calling each of her children on the morning of, making sure we remembered, "shortest day of the year today." Every day gets longer from here, by early February you will really notice it, she would say.  We would have excited conversations about how long it would be before the first Irises broke ground or how long it would take for the buds to appear on the azalea and plum trees.

I imagine my brothers both know what today is but someone really should call to remind them.

 
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