Happy March!
Are Spring hopes… eternal? I sure hope so because here on the east coast of the United States it has been one very cold and snowy winter. I used to remember having these kinds of winters every winter when I was little, back in the early sixties. We used to skate on the pond in the back yard (well, not me, only those who could skate) and it was frozen all winter long. And we would take our sleds down the street to the golf course and sled down the big snow covered hills until it was dark outside. And whether it was frozen pond skating or golf course hill sledding it was always jam packed with kids!
There were kids outside…everywhere…and not a parent in sight! Back in those days parents never came out of their houses unless they were headed for the car or the lawn needed to be cut…at least that’s the way it seemed to us kids. They never took any interest in the kid’s world, unless of course we broke something…which inevitably we always did…but then we ran!
Anyway, Spring meant seeing the ground again and running around without our boots. What freedom after months of heavy feet and walking around like you were in a diver’s suit on the bottom of the ocean.
Ahhhhh Spring! I hope we have a real one this year (like we just had a real winter) and it doesn’t just shoot straight up to 100 degrees by next Wednesday! (which these days it seems is always possible)
As for the title of this blog. Riddle me this:
Which day of the year is the only day of the year that is also a command? (English teachers should get this one easy)
ipledgeafallegiance 
On Monday the weather-folk are calling for 6-8″ of snow in my area of Northeastern PA. Spring is just a bit more than two weeks after that point…and, you know what?
I’m so incredibly tired of having the heat turned all the way down, wearing sock (often shoes), pants, an under-shirt, a tee shirt, a hooded-sweatshirt and a heavy terry-cloth robe around because it’s so fucking cold. I’m tired of going to bed wearing the above, sans the shoes and robe, because it’s so fucking cold. And I’m tired of paying for a rising heating gas bill when there isn’t a felt difference due to a combination of incredibly poor insulation and long stretches of extreme cold.
But, you know what? God fucking bless ‘merica, because I have the freedom to choose between no heat and some heat due to technical or physical corporate monopolies giving me that all important choice! First-world country my left nut.
March fourth! (And if you’re a polite child who played Giant Step, the response must be “May One?”)
Very clever! I was getting a headache trying to figure it out…
I’ve always known the “March fourth” version, but my sweetie points out that “March first!” is equally commanding. (And then you can do anything you like.)
I love your winter memories, because they are so like my own. I’m reliving them, having relocated back to Michigan from California. Today, snowshoes! What a marvelous day. Cold, sure enough, but great sun for awhile and fresh snow. Though the grownups of my childhood never seemed to be out in the snow, the grownups of today (me!) can, and can enjoy it with abandon.
And, yeah, it’s tough to keep the house warm and I’m wearing dozens of layers of clothes, but the winter is still beautiful. (Tell “the Voice” to turn up the stereo. It helps; maybe even dance a little.)