It's Winter...Get Over It!

Don't just look at it...get out there and enjoy!

It's February. It's cold. It will snow and there will be ice for those of us who live in the northern half of the country. What did you think was going to happen in the middle of winter? As a fan and participant of social media, i.e., Facebook, Twitter, I am always amused by comments posted when there is a winter storm in the forecast.

The voices of doom come forth when a low pressure system is forming in the south. "OMG! I can't take it." Really? You live in upstate Pennsylvania. The possibility of snow and wind should not be a surprise. No need to stand on your deck railing and face plant into a drift!

Then there are the inevitable pictures posted of snow covered porches, decks and patio tables where just a few months ago there were hot dogs and grills. "Stuck in the house again." No you're not. Winter always looks worse through a window. Get out there. Take a walk. Clean your elderly neighbors sidewalk. Inhale the cold air so hard that your nostrils get stick together! (Remember that?)

Instead, we go on social media and freak out about a few inches of snow changing life as we know it!
And this provokes our southern counterparts (with a smirk and a sneer, I'm sure) to start posting their weather photos.  There's the beach, the sunsets, mojito's at an outdoor cafe. Life, as they view it, in paradise. My sweet cousin lives on a lake outside of Tampa. She loves to post pictures of her feet dangling off of their boat while we are buried up to our assets in snow.

Seriously. Is this a good idea in Florida?

Andrea, I have two words for you, "gator bait". I can say with certainty, as I hike through crunching snow, that my well bundled toes, will not be appetizers for large reptiles wanting to pull me into the water and have their way with me. (And I'm not even going to mention the real possibility of a visit from a Water Moccasin, which as you posted "just went past the boat.") Enough said.

And on the opposite end of the spectrum are my Facebook and Twitter friends from New Hampshire and Maine who will post  "another 6" or 7" and  -5 out there, no biggie". I love them! They "get" where they live and it is not in a state of perpetual anxiety like those of us in the mid-Atlantic area. At the mere mention of a winter storm, we immediately crave french toast and clean the stores of milk, eggs and bread.

Five years ago, I bought an SUV with four-wheel drive to navigate through the snow covered streets of New Jersey. In the years that followed, I've used that expensive option a grand total of one time. And that was to drive through a wall of snow created by the plows at the Philadelphia Airport which buried my car while I was in um...Florida.

Look, winter is not easy. It makes you earn spring. When you work that hard for something, it is so much more appreciated. Who in the deep south can understand the wonder of that first day you can open a window and allow a fresh breeze through.

And besides, we are talking about a season that only last three months! Short enough to endure but too long to spend it complaining, and even more sad, dreading. So....make some soup, fix some hot chocolate. Bundle up and go for a walk in the woods or a park. There is life out there still! Don't waste yours spending it in a holding pattern waiting for spring.