So far this winter, the entire Daily Felltoon staff thought things hadn't been overly bad.
Sure, we'd seen a bit of snow, both in the Midwest and on the East Coast. But it wasn't like what we'd seen last year, so we were OK with it being just a bit colder. Some of us and our families got new snow gear and we were ready, if not itching, to try it out.
We'd been eating healthy - even through the holiday season - keeping active, and taking our vitamins. None of us had been truly, deeply ill yet, and we were hoping maybe we could make it all the way through January without being visited by the "Ick Fairy."
Now, though, we are SO ready for spring.
Everyone has had at least a cold by now, if not something worse. We've discovered that one of our doctors seems to think "The Creeping Crud" is more of an official diagnosis, and less of a name for a modern rock band.
We are now completely past the desire to spend the whole day lying in bed. We've grown tired of the taste of NyQuil, even if it isn't in the notorious "green death" flavor. And we're almost to the point where we don't care if there's enough snow to use that new pink snowsuit.
It's not that we don't appreciate what winter has to offer.
Family members coming to our place for a winter weekend visit is nice - even if getting parking tickets in the snow is not.
It's just that we've begun to feel that inevitable feeling, that comes over many people who dwell in temperate climate zones about this time of year.
We're sick of being sick. We're sick of shoveling snow. We miss not being able to see much sunlight after five in the afternoon. We could really stand to go a whole 'nother year without having to scrape ice off of our car windows. And if we forget our gloves, or hats, or scarves, or other winter paraphernalia one more time, we may have to get the adult version of the kiddie safety strings - for everything!
We miss the warm breeze of a spring day, the blue skies, and soft scents of all kinds of plants blooming in the sun. We long for there to be more than 15 minutes of daylight after 5 PM. And frankly, we've been successfully watching our figures this winter, so it would be nice not to have to hide ourselves under four extra layers of clothes.
Yes, we're aware… spring is coming sooner than we realize, and summer after that as well. Before long, we'll be complaining right along with most people that the temperatures are too hot, as we long for the crisp breezes of autumn.
So we'll enjoy winter this weekend, while it's still with us.
Probably by watching the snow fall from inside, while we drink some hot tea, and hunker down, wrapped in a fluffy blanket.
