The Star - News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area

“It was a dark and stormy night.” This is considered one the worst beginnings of a suspenseful novel. But we have been living it. Cold weather, lots of snow and now the melt-off. Add very little sunshine and the winter blues hit you where it counts. Multiply in Christmas shopping recovery, political turmoil, tragedy in the area and the yuck bugs going around; we all might lock ourselves in our houses with nothing but Net-flix and Theraflu until the sun shines again. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

As the mud rises and the snow lessens, we can be thankful for some things coming. Yes, sunshine is one of those things, but we also can enjoy the thoughts of spring being not far away. Soon, we will be outside doing cleanup and planting veggies and flowers. Spring cleaning will develop and the “honey-do” lists will keep growing.

The kids and pets will go from tracking snow in the house to tracking mud in the house to tracking animal prints outside. Spring will bloom and old will become new. Soon the birds will be back, nests will be built and babies on the way.

Big jobs will start around town. The bureau’s new firehouse, road repair and kids looking for jobs will become commonplace.

Graduation for the class of 2017 is quickly approaching, and soon the talk of “plans” for the future will be the first question asked of them. And before they know it, college is done, proposals are made and spring chicks of their own are on the way.

Then the boats will attack the waterways with a fury, and before you know it, we are complaining about the heat again, the deer in our gardens and tourists.

In our darkest times it is sometimes hard to look ahead to the light just around the corner. In the gloom of winter, it can be difficult to look ahead. The same goes for anything in life. A death in the family, losing a job, a tough loss in sports, and an ended relationship can feel devastating at the time, and usually is justified. But we can be sure that, just like the gloom of winter, spring is coming. Green is coming. A rebirth, a newness, a closer walk of faith and new sprouts of joy breaking through the fertile soil. It is coming.