Hating On Winter

I hate winter! I have been hating on winter for as long as I can remember. All of my life I have viewed winter through this same lens and with this same perspective. I can think of a myriad of reasons why I feel this way.

Certainly pictures of landscapes covered with the whiteness snow brings present a peaceful picture. Not to mention the activities folks can only enjoy when a sled is drawn or sliding through the slickness snow brings to the surfaces in its path. There is sledding, skiing, snowshoeing, skating and any number of activities people engage in that are fun which need that white icy stuff.

But I guess I have seen and felt too many of the hardships it also inflicts to enjoy any of its pleasures.  I recall having been almost frostbitten as I waited for a delayed ride (from work)  as the snow and wind blew mightily and the temperatures continued to drop.  I was petrified that I would never make it home.

As a child I lived in the area of the Appalachian Mountains which are covered largely by deciduous trees.  As fall arrived trees received that signal to discontinue the growth of leaves and down they came leaving behind bare brown trees without their clothes -- leaves!!  They always looked so dreadful to me all bare and lifeless just standing there.  And then came the snow that took forever to melt and got dirtier and dirtier day by day until what seemed like Fourth of July before it melted.  The ground became mushy and dirtied your shoes as it was difficult to find a place to step as you tried to walk.  In those days sidewalks were few and far between unless you lived right in the middle of a little town.

The best thing I can think about winter and cold weather is ----that it is followed by Spring and then Summer.  Guess there really is a light behind every cloud after all.*

*  This post was largely written in February of 2015!