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Ahhh, the sun.  Where have you gone?  I long for you like I long for my high school figure.  I open the windows every morning, anxiously awaiting your arrival, only to be disappointed.  In your place I find a white haze that covers the sky and forms an impenetrable bubble around our town.

Without the sun, I find no reason to get out of my pajamas (which can be embarrassing when picking up the kids from school- for all of us), all I want to do is eat soup, sit by the fire and read a book.  While this is good to do on some days, I feel like doing it ALL days.

I spent the week after Christmas at my grandpa's house.  He lives about an hour east of Sacramento, right next to the American River.  All week I enjoyed sun rises and sun sets because there was actually a sun to see.  The Boy and I hiked by the river and did interesting things like pick out rocks to throw into the river to see what kind of noise they would make.  We visited an old gold mining town (population 415) and watched a real blacksmith at work.  It was fun and relaxing and SUNNY.  Not warm by any means, but the sun was present and accounted for in my mood.

As I left my grandpa's house, I turned on the iPod tunes to my Pop fun playlist.  Driving down the curvy canyon that would take me to I-80 and back to good old 99, I rocked out and sang to the pop songs I usually reserve for my workouts.

But as I drove out of the mountains and toward Sacramento, I found myself switching playlists.  The iPod was no longer playing the quick poppy songs, in it's place was Nina Simone, Fiona Apple, and Erykah Badu (just the sad slow songs).  I looked up into the sky and found the reason for my sudden mood change; no more sun.

I was in mourning and have been ever since.  Ahh, the sun.