Winter (BY PHILIPPA)

 At minus 20 degrees on Saturday morning, a group of us defiantly walked around the
cemetery, under a clear blue sky, a shining sun and no wind. Now I wouldn’t say it was
“balmy’ but it really wasn’t intolerable at all and in fact was quite beautiful. The air was
clear and crisp, the snow was glittering under the bright sun, the trees and bushes were
draped in white snowdrifts and the cemetery roadway was clean and dry. We feared not
as made our way around, we are Canadians after all and can do this.
At the same time, I couldn’t help but think about the people in Ukraine who are without
electricity, heat or water during a bitter winter cold snap. How on earth are they
managing? And yet they still seem to be defiant in the face of terrible adversity.
We really don’t know what we are capable of until we are tested and as the world
changes rapidly around us at an extraordinary and unsettling pace, it seems that tests
will be coming our way both personally and as a country. And so we must dig deep
and find the resources within to withstand, be it a walk on a very cold winter’s day or
political turmoil.
As my daughter once told me (to my absolute shock!): “Suck it up, buttercup!” And so I
did. And we TPW’s do too and are proud of it.