SHHHH! BE VERY, VERY QUIET!

 

Shhhh!! Be very, very quiet. It’s Groundhog’s Day and I don’t want anyone to scare that little bugger back into his hole for six more loooooooooong weeks of winter. Maybe if everyone stays inside and we’re real, real quiet, then perhaps he’ll just meander out into the snow and stay out all day. He’s supposed to be scared by his shadow, not us people, but the sun shining on any given winter day is not a huge possibility in Northern New York at this time of year. I don’t know about you, but I could use an end to winter, and I’ll do anything I can to get it, even if it means staying inside with the lights off all day today.

January is over, and that’s good. January is a bad month for winter. It comes at the worst time—just after the holidays. You’ve been up and excited about winter and snow and Christmas for the whole month of December, and then it’s New Year’s Day, and boom! You realize it actually is winter, and there’s nothing to be done but endure it. You didn’t buy a new snow shovel in November when they were on sale, and you forgot in December, when the kids were out there clearing sidewalks with their bare hands, just to stay on Santa’s good side. And now it’s January and there isn’t a shovel to be had, so you’re out there with the dustpan, trying to clean a six-inch by thirty-foot path to the garage, in knee-deep snow.

Then along strolls February. Snowstorms in February? Pooh! Winter is on the way out, so why buy a snow shovel now? Of course the stores, having restocked due to the big January demand, are full of them in every shape and size, but you won’t be buying one now. (After all, next January is months away!) Yes, February is fantastic—it’s short if not always sweet. I know, it isn’t that much shorter than any other month, but I’ll take what I can get because March is next and, ohhhh, do I love March.

A foot of snow in March can disappear the very next day. A foot of snow in January will linger longer (but perhaps be more welcome?) than your husband’s old college buddy who needs a couch to sleep on for a week or three. In March, crocuses appear. These brave little flowers can take a load of snow. And you feel like—hey! If they can get buried in snow and sleet and still pop up bright and cheery, so can you! Ok, maybe you won’t be exactly ‘bright and cheery’. But at least when you see the crocuses, you’ll feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

I’ve read that one must ‘live in the now’. It’s not good to be constantly focused on the future, because you miss what’s happening around you. Helloooooo! Hasn’t anyone been listening? I don’t want to focus on the here and now. I don’t want to focus on two feet of snow and below zero temperatures. I have to hold March and those crocuses ahead of me like a bright, shining beacon just to get through January and February! That’s why I’m begging everyone not to scare the groundhog back into his hole for six more weeks of winter. Play it my way, people, and in less than four weeks you might be seeing the signs of spring. Shhhhh!