In many parts of the country February is one of the coldest months of the year, not something you usually have to put too much thought into on the Gulf Coast, but for most February is the cold, snowy slog before Spring finally shows up in late March, although in the Midwest in was always a bit later as there have been days I’ve seen eight inches of snow appear on the first day of ‘Spring.’
Of course, before that in the United States, we get Daylight Savings Time in the middle of next month, the extension of daylight a good omen of what is to come in the coming weeks.
Alas, it is not March yet, not even close, so I may be a bit premature, however, after a Winter that was cold for me personally regardless of the temperature outside it makes a welcome daydream to think there are days ahead where the sun heats the earth to a tolerable level and life is renewed once again in the endless circle it travels.
Maybe there is something to be learned from the dark, from the cold, but I’m not sure, mostly as the lessons they teach are as cold as a February wind; they are not the kinds of lessons one would want to undertake, needed at times perhaps or things that cannot be avoided at others but never anyone’s first choice to be sure.
I suppose then when you have walked in the coldest of air possible (although it’s never a good idea to tempt fate with such a declaration), it’s only natural to want to escape that harsh environment and head to a better one, a warmer one, one that does not freeze your bones and make you scamper to hide under shelter.
My ‘cold’ came in droves, like a February blizzard, stacking up against the sides of various internal structures, the howling wind making both drifts of snow almost impossible to climb as well as patches of the ground devoid of even one flake of snow, such are the marvels of nature and life as well.
I suppose the struggle has become so consuming that I had no choice but to express it here in some way and indeed, this is not the first time this space has been filled by an article penned by me where I long for the warmth of Spring, long for the cold to fade the shivering to stop.
I suppose I am already there because the Winter has been quite cruel as was 2020 as a year.
The world cries with me as it was equally stricken by the past three-hundred and sixty-five days that really start in February or March, I am not alone in losing a life, losing my place, and in terms of people losing my own father as well, but I always found the phrase ‘misery loves company’ to be a tired and worn phrase in certain situations.
The next time I will be writing it will indeed be March, it will be close to Spring, and daylight savings may have even started. Hopefully, it can do its job and warm things up…I am starting to feel a bit of numbness in my toes.
