It’s just weather, people say. What’s a little rain? What’s a little snow? You shouldn’t let it affect your mood.

But it does. It’s hard to be cheery on a gray winter’s day.

Think of it as silver, my granddaughter, Amy, says. Amy doesn’t need the sun to be happy. She is the sun. She’s away at college now, she left in September, but she continues to message uplifting sayings often written by anonymous someones to feed the world’s weary souls.