I’m sure I’m not alone this year when I say “I hate winter.” But I did find something about the freezing carnage to like. Winter is the great equalizer. Everyone’s yard is covered with snow. You can’t tell who has the worst kept blue grass, who planted the prettiest impatiens or who has the most dried up hostas. Not only that but everyone’s car is the same color. We’re all driving around in the same drab, grey, salt-licks on wheels. Even the rust around the wheel wells has taken on the same dull white hue.
This week the first true sign of spring can be seen. More sure than a red-breasted robin in your yard it is the first baseball games of spring practice. The games where the players exhibit their best effort to get noticed and their most clumsy broken plays they wish no one would have seen. Best of all, while watching these games, in the background you can see palm trees. Those tall sticks with the fronds sticking out on top always remind me of somewhere, anywhere, warm. No snowstorms, no tornadoes – just an occasional hurricane or maybe an earthquake.
Of course with the spring we must all prepare for The Great Melting. All of the debris from the roofs caved in by the snow will wash down hill to the sea. The fights with insurance companies and FEMA will commence. But just remember while you’re filling-out those forms and setting your clocks ahead – It’s Spring!