Nothing but blue skies.

It's a cold day in Vegas.

Sunny, though...there's almost always plenty of blue skies and sunshine here. That means happiness, right? Smiles and friends and blue skies and happiness.

Where I grew up, it was usually cloudy. Rainy. Snowy. Grey. Dreary. Desolate.

Many of my best memories took place during nasty weather, or at least fairly gloomy weather. Some that I can specifically remember - events in a blizzard or thunderstorm tend to take on special significance - and others in which the weather played no specific part, but framed the times and events. It's not like every sunny day was wonderful, or every dreary day was actually dreary to experience.

Don't get me wrong, I remember how nice it was to have a day or two of sunshine after a few months of dismal weather. The kind of day when you wake up and the sun greets you like a long-lost friend, and you get the feeling that the entire world is welcoming you. The prodigal sun, refreshing a dull spirit with the promise of a bright future, or at least a fun few hours.

So it's not that I hate the sun, not really. But too much of anything will start to gall after a while.

Now I get a small glimmer of that same refreshment from the infrequent days of rain and wind.

I'm surprised when I hear others complain, as if 300 days of blue skies and sunshine isn't enough.

As if it isn't way too much. Clear skies and sunshine, mercilessly illuminating everything that you'd rather not see, destroying all the shadows in which you'd like to hide, mocking your pain with a crisp view of the happiness and beauty that is out of your reach. After a few weeks of that, you'd be ready for some gloom.

I enjoy these times. While it's still cold here, while it's still windy, while the near-total tyranny of blue skies and sunshine is still slightly threatened by a slim chance of minor chaos.

I'd love to be enjoying the chilly breeze of early spring, and soaking in the last few weeks of mild weather before the mercury starts its inexorable climb. I try to enjoy it. I know I should enjoy it. Sometimes, though, it's just not possible. Sometimes - regardless of whether you prefer sunshine or storms - the weather just isn't enough.

In a month, we'll be a little too warm, a little too often. In two months, we won't ever be able to open the windows because it's far too hot...we'll need to turn on that sickening, wasteful air conditioner just to stay slightly comfortable. And during the following three or four months, it will get even hotter and stay that way.

Sunny, warm, and blue skies. I'm not looking forward to it.

But maybe, just maybe, in a month or two I won't have so much of a problem enjoying it. So I guess that's something to look forward to.

Maybe in a month or two, despite the heat and light, I'll be able to appreciate what I have instead of dwelling on what I lack.

After all, the only things that I lack are happiness, love, friends, the ability to pay my bills, self-respect, hope for the future. Why would I let little things like that get me down?

After all, the sun is shining and the skies are blue.

But it's pretty cold in Vegas today.