December 9

I was cold all day long. It took me a good 10 minutes to thaw out my fingers after taking Abby and Isaac to school this morning, and I never managed to raise my temperature enough to feel comfortable. Even now, I'm huddled under my electric blanket and my poor feet are still freezing. Given my own personal fail when it comes to temperature resistance, I got a little jolt when I looked out my window this afternoon and saw this in my yard:

It's a pretty little pansy. Somewhere in my gardening schema, I'd pegged pansies as, well, pansies: weak, flimsy, intolerant of temperature change. Fragile.

But that's very clearly not the case. While the giant tomato plant fell victim to our recent streak of frosty nights and nary a rose petal remains on the bushes, this little darling is absolutely thriving in the chilly temperatures.

It was striking to me to remember that sometimes, the most beautiful, delicate-looking things are in actuality the strongest things out there. It's a good reminder that fragility isn't automatically a sign of weakness.