Yesterday was rough, today was lovely. And I mean in every way. Yesterday was lonely, tedious and gray. Today was full of friends, easy and sun-shiney. I have a tendency, when I’m in the gray days, to believe they will last forever. I think my kids will always be ornery, I will always have mounds of housework to do, and winter will never end. Then one little thing snaps me out of my mood – a kind word from my husband, a warm breeze, or a quiet half-hour – and you’d think I was the cheeriest, most positive person in the world.

I often wish I wasn’t such a roller-coaster of feelings and emotions. (I know my husband often wishes this too.) A friend of mine recently told me that she heard about a study in which women were given higher doses of testosterone and men were given higher doses of estrogen. The women felt calm and in control, while the men were all over the map emotionally and couldn’t wait to get off the stuff. So maybe this up and down stuff is all part of being a woman, or maybe I’m just an emotional person. The key, I think, is somehow reminding myself during the lows that they don’t last forever, and gleaning every last drop of goodness out of the highs.