Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

It’s December again. I’m not a big fan of December. I was born in the month, but my mother, father, grandmother, good friend and kitty cat all died in December. The month also means cold weather, short days, and often snow. As I write this, I look out my office window and it’s snowing. Not a blizzard or heavy snow, just a steady falling of the wet stuff that sticks to everything. Some people would look out and say it’s beautiful.

Not me. I hate it!

My hatred of the white stuff goes all the way back to the night I was born. On December 16, 1947, my dad said he drove nearly 40 miles through a blizzard from Almont to the hospital in Mt. Clemens so I could enter the world. He said I was almost born in the car.

As I grew up on Teeds Street, my neighborhood friend, Bobby Stepnits, and I were forced to go outside and play in the stuff. My ears were frost bitten once with the earlobes curling up, turning red and hurting like crazy when they thawed out. Painful.

What fun was playing in the snow? Making Frosty the Snowman or snow angels? Whoopee. Throwing snowballs at each other? Ouch. Sledding? No hills so we couldn’t go very far. We were too young to ski, snowmobile or ice fish. I never cared for any of that winter sports “fun” later, come to think of it.

Learning to drive in the snow was a challenge. It still can be. Cleaning the driveway and sidewalks? Nope. Pay somebody else to do that.

It snowed 26” one night in East Lansing when I was a student at Michigan State. It was the first time in history that the university closed. Kids were jumping out of dorm windows into the snowdrifts. Ha! Not me! I did, however, sit in the snow at Spartan Stadium and Tiger Stadium a few times watching football games. What was I thinking?!

Once the snow starts to melt or turn dirty along the side of the road, it’s ugly. Does it really help the grass or the trees? Yes, to some extent, but if it’s too heavy, it breaks off limbs or can cause snow mold fungus in the lawn.

So, for the life of me, I can see no reason to like snow. Or winter in general, for that matter. Except there are no bugs. That’s good. When you go out, you dress for the cold. But when the car warms up or you go into a restaurant or other building, you either must peel off some layers or sit there and sweat.

I could do like many Michiganders and the state bird (Robin) and go farther south for the winter but that’s a major hassle. I want the warm weather to come to me! Complain, complain, complain. Yeah, I know. I’ve complained about it (and many other things) for more than seven decades. Hasn’t done a bit of good. Winter still comes and it still snows.

For those of you who like winter and snow, who think “it’s beautiful,” I tip my warm hat to you. You are heartier and probably wiser, than I.

Oh, well, only a few more months of this and I can start complaining of how hot it is, how the bugs are driving me nuts, etc.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Contact Rick at tct@pageone-inc.com