WINTER IS HERE

Winter is here. Those are three words that really make my stomach turn. But, the reality is that it is cold out there, Christmas is in about a month, and the days of shorts and t-shirts are gone for about five months. Officially winter begins right before Christmas, but for all intents and purposes, winter is here. So we don't go anywhere without putting on a coat, and we don't play basketball out back much, and we don't lay on the couch without a blanket and we don't walk around even inside, without socks on. College basketball is revving up, and college football is getting down to the wire. The NFL is past it's midseason point and the baseball hot stove activity really hasn't started to heat up yet.

Every year, I try and stay positive, and say that I don't mind winter, that I don't mind the snow. But to be honest, I mind it all. Snow is fun for a day or two. Cold isn't fun at all. Frozen, slippery pavement and treacherous driving is awful. Warming up your car every time you leave totally sucks. And sitting in your car while it warms up sucks even worse.

Leaving work at five o'clock, with an overcoat and gloves and scarf and earmuffs, and getting into your frozen car, and driving home in the cold, dark, exhaust ridden night, that has to be one of the most depressing feelings.

So I shall bundle up lest I freeze. I shall trudge through the muck and step over the puddles, and take the kids to play in the snow when it finally arrives. This is what we do. This is life in Ohio. Why didn't I move to Florida when I was young like I said I was going to? I wouldn't be having these thoughts right now. Such is life.