Ahhh SHIT!!!

It's here. Again. This was the depressing sight out my front door day before yesterday , after an otherwise pleasant day. So November 13th marks the first snowfall of the year, a month earlier than last year(gee I hope this isn't a trend). Whether officially or not, Winter has arrived.

And that's the only thing I don't like about the Fall. That it leads into this fucking season. I love the beautiful autumn colors- the resplendent splashes of red and green and yellow and gold-  and of course Indian Summer for as long as it lasts. But then there's that moment, like yesterday afternoon, where the party's over. No more nicey-nice until sometime in March. It's usually an abrupt nose-dive, or at least feels like one. 

This will be my second non-working Winter. Yes, it is wonderful, just like you'd think:  not to have to trudge out into the cold every morning and scrape the ice off the windshield, not to have that 10-15 minute period while the vehicle warms up, and not to have to drive out someplace and do something all day I'd just as soon not do!

One of my Dad's bits o' wisdom, passed down to us kids, was that  everything costs something. For every gain, there's a loss. I've found this to be true in many instances, and if there's a price tag here, with retirement, it's all the time you have on your hands. 

For your whole adult life, your whole working career, you're only given these little slivers of free time: your evenings, weekends, and vacations, year after year after year- and all of a sudden(after 20+ years of waiting for it), you have all the time in the world! It's wonderful and terrifying all in the same breath. 

Having resigned from my job at the end of June, I'd already come to terms with this side-effect of retirement. I'd had Jack Torrance nipping at my psyche long before old Jack Frost was nipping at my toes. So I've already exorcised those demons(not that they couldn't make a comeback..), and didn't have any real problems with the void as far as that goes. 

No, the problem I have with the Winter months is more that they're just plain dark . December to some extent, and most definitely January and February. It's cold outside, the ground is frozen, there's probably snow and ice on it, you have less daylight. All these things add up to darkness to me(especially that last one of course)- and with a couple extra numbers in there.The sun can be shining, and everything in my life going wonderfully, but if it's in the first two months of the year, it still belongs to the dark period. Things can't be coming up roses when the ground's too cold..

Really, we're not there yet. This was just a teaser. The temperature will fluctuate a bit before it drops once and for all. That is the true ahh shit moment: when it's snowed, and the temperatures all week are under the freezing mark. When Winter has announced that it's here to stay. 

At least until sometime in March. It's gone later than that, but usually wraps itself up by the end of March. And that's when the year really begins for me. I start making more plans to go out. 

Funny thing about last Winter. Nasty cold temperatures, the worst Winter we've had in over 30 years. Epic, I suppose.

I do remember some bad patches of mine: slipping on the ice(speaking of bad patches)and having some sore ribs for the next couple weeks; a nasty cold which also put me down for a similar period; a dolorous dullness of spirit just wishing the blasted Winter was over with! 

But I also remember all the little reprieves: the 2 and 3 and even 4-day stretches of tolerable and even nice weather; a few nice gigs on Sunday afternoon(even though one of them was the time I fell on the ice!); some fun YouTube videos I made, and some enhancements to the website. All these patches of light in the darkness. 

Those are what got me through last Winter. The reprieves. The breaks. And they're really what I remember, they form my recollection of the Winter of 2014.  Even the nasty stuff isn't as nasty as it may sound. With the fall on the ice, most of the soreness was gone after a day or so(though it was a bit tender for awhile in there); and a Winter cold ain't that bad if you get to stay home. 

So that's what will really get me through this Winter: all the optimism I can muster. And whatever nice patches there are to be enjoyed during these next couple months. Both to those reading this blog(if any)and the one writing it, see you sometime in March. 

Right now we have Fall wrapping itself up and Winter approaching; then, we'll have Winter coming to an end and Spring stepping in. I'm sure there will be much joy throughout the land. Winter, the Wicked Witch of seasons, is dead. At least for awhile.