I was talking to a friend about the weather.  I opined “I hate this winter.”  He responded cheerily “Oh but it’s winter.  It’s what we expect.”  I was a little more sharp than usual in my retort “but it has been intense, colder than normal with more snow than usual.”  He laughed.  “Oh that’s winter.”  Ho ho ho. . . .  

My countenance darkened.  My eyes narrowed.  Smoke began to waft from my ears . . . . . but I smiled through my teeth and remembered the admonition of my grandmother “if you can’t say something nice – don’t say anything.”  I growled inwardly.  Said “yep.”  And walked away.

I just came back from 10 days in the Caribbean.  On the night we returned, Chicago had just gotten 9 inches of new snow and it was freezing.  We got home, crawled under layers of blankets, shivered and turned out the lights.  Next morning, my eyes blinked open and it hit me – this isn’t St. Barth’s Toto.  An hour later, I’m trudging through the ice and snow in 5 degree weather bundled up like Admiral Byrd heading to the train station. 

I can tolerate cold weather but this winter has been positively awful.  I wanna be warm.  I wanna play golf.  I wanna go to the beach.  I wanna grill my food outside.  I wanna open the windows and sleep with a sheet – not 15 pounds of blankets.  I wanna walk in 80 degree sunshine to and from the train.  I wanna use my fly swatter.  Let’s put it this way.  If you have liked this winter, keep it to yourself.