Dear Winter: It's not me, it's you!

Here we are, smack dab in the middle of winter. And that cold, cruel mistress it has called February. And along with her presence she inevitably gifts many of us the winter blues. But for a summer sun-worshiping, sun and sand loving, water baby like me, it’s especially rough.

I feel it coming every year. Summer winds down, bringing cooler days and brisk breezes in its wake. Autumn teases with her beautiful colors.

And then SHE arrives.

I try to stave it off. I play up the holidays, decorate for Halloween, gobble up that Thanksgiving turkey, look forward to the Christmas season, even lie to myself that New Year’s is simply a thrust into the upcoming spring! The dry skin of the winter is just my penance for my golden tan obtained by basking in the summer’s warm sun, I tell myself. Or, hey! I love snuggling into a big ol’ sweater when it’s cold!

But that’s all it is: one big lie.

 

For inevitably February reaches my door step. Shoving her nasty single-digit temperatures in my face and forcing her awful snow into my life. Creating an ice rink outdoors; and she knows how I struggle with gravity as it is!

The irony of it all is that the shortest month of the year is arguably the worst, weather and temperature-wise.

At least to me it is…. and I’m certain I’m not alone.

And February, oh February. Why must you be dreadful? You try and play off your nastiness by tempting me with Mardi Gras and Valentine’s Day, but I know better. Especially this year, when you slammed that terrible little snowstorm Valentine’s evening. Your attempts to sway my feelings don’t work.

And I have all of the weather apps, I do! They’re a must! I compare each forecast against the next, hoping for disagreements. Snow! Ice! No snow! Rain! -1 ° on Thursday, 15° on Friday, 54 on Saturday! Is February in Virginia going through some sort of change?! It’s too much for my weary weather-worn self!

Shoveling snow, sprinkling salt, bundling up…

Watching the sun come up later and set earlier…
When six o’clock at night feels like nine….

We need an app, an app that simulates summer. An app that casts a warm glow on us when there is only gray. There’s an app for everything else, why not that? An app that recreates a tropical beach that emanates warmth…and “swooshes” the waves in the background. C’mon Apple. Give me an iBeach, or an iTan. Lord knows we could all use an iEscape.

***Speaking of apps, be sure to check out our jbmhhfmwr app in your smart phone’s App Store! Just search ‘jbmhhfmwr,’ download, and get connected! We don’t offer a beach or a tan, but we do offer everything you could need on post! And when February and her wicked stepsisters March and April scoot their bums outta here, we will be offering info on the pools!

 

~A