Find the sun, share the love
There’s a lot to be said for the wisdom of the aged. We’re close to the end of the January, we’ve had a traditional rather than open winter and frankly people are fed up.
Plenty have been sick, with cold, flu, Norwalk or something else that health officials aren’t talking about. We’ve explored the prevalence of flu or whatever in the region and the answer remains the same. Nope; not much happening here. But ask anyone and they’ll tell you; either they’ve been sick, their kids have been ill, none of it has been pleasant.
The long winter has been identified as the primary culprit. We’re not used to it and it has ground us down. Snow arrived in December and it hasn’t let up since. Bitter, Arctic cold has compounded the problem to the extent that folks are sick, all right: sick of bundling up, sick of shoveling and sick of scraping the car, not to mention physically ill, too.
Stress levels inch higher with each passing day. Perhaps the best illustration of this recently was an item in our From the Cruiser report that detailed a woman who spit on the door of a gentleman’s car because he took what she believed to be her parking space.
I’ve tried to come to terms with human behaviour as I’ve matured in this profession, but it’s a lost cause. The foibles of everyday life are voluminous and compel people to do the wackiest things. Add snow, cold and ice to the mix and, as Emily Yeung says to our kiddies on Treehouse, “Here we are!”
The bottom line is people are burned out, grumpy and unwilling to allow others any wiggle room when it comes to parking spaces, grocery line-ups and the general day-to-day roller derby that characterizes our lives.
It’s a puzzle, so I decided to seek the opinion of a higher power - my mother.
She has lived for nearly 80 years, raised four kids and has done such an incredible job that I have nothing but respect for what she has to say. She has been around the block and then some, and is unfailing in her ability to synthesize matters to their common denominator.
So when I asked her what she thought, the reaction was immediate. The winter has been long, yes, but we’ve become spoiled. Then she flexed the wisdom of her years and added, with revelatory significance, “we just haven’t had enough sun, either.”
If I had been pining for a certain vegetable juice, I’d have smacked my forehead. Sunshine! The restorative power of vitamin D. Or the relative lack thereof.
And she’s right. We’ve had plenty of dreary, overcast days, the majority of which have brought flurries and bone-numbing cold.
Indeed, the sun came out for a while Saturday afternoon and I thought the heavens had parted and the Second Coming was nigh it had been so long since I had seen it.
We’re reacting to a dearth of restorative golden rays. The trick is to do something about it now that we know why we’re feeling so out of sorts.
Going south is out of the question for me, but catching some rays during something like Eagle Watch this weekend, sliding on Burgher Hill, skiing or engaging in some other outdoor activity appeals to my finer instincts. Fresh air and sunshine is the ticket, my friends, the remedy for winter we’ve been seeking.
So be it. Don’t let a protracted winter be a source of persistent aggravation. Find the sun and share the love, people. Trust me; we’ll all be better for it.
