Old Man Winter Has Us In His Grasp

With the calendar reading mid-January we can’t be surprised that our familiar nemesis known as Old Man Winter has settled in once again.

For Georgia the cold seemed to arrive early this year, too early in fact. In reality we really never had much of a fall season. We pretty much went from summer into winter. For those like myself who like any season but the one we are now in, it’s going to be a long three-month stretch (at least) before any true relief arrives.

My father often tells me we need winter. It takes care of pests and helps prepare things such as trees and our yards to return to life when the weather does get warmer. These are the months when we get needed rain for the upcoming dry months although rain for two weeks at a time is a little much I think everyone would agree.

I certainly understand the need for winter but I just can’t bring myself to like it.

It seems lately the best we can hope for is to have blue sky with the temperature in the 40s at the peak warmth of the day. Folks that’s just not warm enough for me. It seems Georgia (and I’m still not sure how this is even possible) is dealing with temperatures similar to what our countrymen in the north are dealing with. While we don’t get as much snow (thankfully) the cold temperatures which moved into our neck of the woods in November and early December and now January have been brutal.

For those of you like myself who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (commonly known as SAD), winter is tough each year. Cold is part of it. Another element to it is the overall lack of sunlight. Even on days when it doesn’t rain the mere fact that it is dark by 5:30 means SAD suffers don’t get the necessary sunlight needed to fight back the winter blues.

A recent check showed that we will start getting longer days on March 10 which is actually less than two months away. That will help as long as we don’t enter a lengthy rainy spell, which seems to happen quite a good bit where I live.

I did receive a text last week from my former college colleague who has braved the frozen lands of North Dakota since we graduated in 1993. He said they are having the usual deep freeze although he seems to thrive on it. My former college colleague has always been an avid outdoorsman and covers hunting and fishing for his paper (along with some North Dakota State football for good measure.)

“Come up and I’ll take you fishing like we used to do,” my friend told me. “At times it actually gets to be 10 degrees above zero in the afternoon.”

“No thanks,” I replied.

For me I am looking forward to April and May in the South when the temperatures climb once again.

For me, I try to lose myself in my interests from favorite television shows or movies or being with family or friends. Often even getting a text from someone you know can help make the day better.

It entered my mind in recent days that high school baseball is just around the corner. While those first games are often brutal in terms of the weather, by mid-season at least the temperatures begin to warm up and if we are lucky the sun will be bright overhead.

And of course college football really doesn’t have an offseason anymore. In a couple of months spring football practice will be here and fans are already anticipating the 2019 season.

Winter arrives each year and its severity differs. I just keep saying “spring will return eventually.” After all, it always has.

Monticello native Chris Bridges has contributed articles to The Monticello News since 1988. He has earned awards for column writing from the Georgia Press Association and The National Newspaper Association.