Spring And Summer Seem Light Years Away

Summer, where art thou?

The rain and the cold have become bout more than this life-long resident of the South can take. We are firmly in winter’s grasp as of this writing as bitter temperatures moved in Sunday following another day of rain.

As I opened the front door of my house early Sunday morning the bitter chill in the air caused me to double time it back inside.

Growing up I didn’t seem to mind or notice the cold. I actually seemed to thrive on it but I guess our attitude changes when it comes to a lot of things the older we get.

Snow, which thankfully we have not seen this winter as of yet, can also be a funny thing. I remember as a child always wanting it and it seldom arriving. I remember getting excited at the mere mention of even a few snowflakes and how I would anxiously look upward hoping to see any flurries blowing in the wind or falling to the ground.

Yet, more often than not, that childhood snow would never arrive. To be honest, I wanted snow back then because it would mean the possibility of a day off from school. If we even got half an inch, I would hunker down by my radio listening for word if my school was closed the next day. Every now and then the magic words would be heard and I knew a bonus vacation day had been delivered, kind of like an extra Christmas present or a very early birthday gift.

On the very rare occasion, we would even get a couple days off, but that was as rare as the Atlanta Falcons making the playoffs back in the 1980s.

Fast forwarding to today, the roles are reversed. If I never see snow again, I wouldn’t complain. It causes too many problems from travel to the power going out to my power bill skyrocketing.

I realize the kids of today probably want snow just like I used to. Heck, I’m sure some adults do as well. But for me, all I can do now is think about summer — and being in Hawaii or the Bahamas or South Florida or, well you get the idea. Oh, for the bright, warm sun to be shining down upon me. Oh, for it to be warm enough to spend the afternoon swimming and to enjoy an outdoor cookout. And unfortunately the closest I’ve been to the Aloha State is watching episodes of Hawaii Five-O and Magnum, P.I. (the originals of course) on DVD.

Warmer days and longer days have also been on mind in recent weeks. We were robbed of fall this year and I am still upset about it. This is Georgia after all. Yet it seems we are getting colder each year. So much for global warming I suppose.

Give me spring and give me summer any day of the week. I’ve had my fill of winter for this year. The weather during the past week has only made it worse. Unfortunately spring, and certain summer, seem a million miles away.

If there is a bright spot in all of this, winter in Georgia can be bi-polar. While we can seemingly live within a freezer for a while, there is always a chance the temperatures will rebound and they often do.

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The start of 2019 means we are moving rapidly into the next presidential campaign season. In fact several candidates have already thrown their hats into the political ring. We will go over an updated list next week.

Many people remain upset and continue to boycott the National Football League since some players (not all) take a knee during the playing of the National Anthem. I wonder, however, why that same level of outrage has not been heard with the government shutdown which means our servicemen and servicewomen cannot be paid their already too low salaries.

Meanwhile, politicians continue to receive their pay. It seems to me that is worthy of protest. Both parties are at fault and I would hope we all would put our armed forces personnel above any political party. Until we realize that both sides of the two-head political monster are at fault, nothing will change.

Monticello native Chris Bridges is a long-time newspaper columnist. He has earned awards for his columns from the Georgia Press Association, the National Newspaper Association and the Georgia Sports Writers Association. He welcomes feedback from readers of The Monticello News at pchrisbridges@gmail.com.