the winter of my discontent

i am seriously affected by the weather.  most specifically, winter.  words cannot adequately express how much i hate detest winter.  i can almost hear one of the kids admonishing me: "mommy said a bad word!" (we don't allow the word "hate" in our house, at least at these young ages.  it seems so negative.  heretofore i shall use "detest."  and no, the irony is not lost on me.)

i have often told chris that i would move to florida in a second if he'd let me.  "wouldn't you miss the seasons?" he always asks.  but you see, that's what airplanes are for.  you get to ride on one, step out into a blast of frigid air, and then hop right back on for a return flight back to warmth.  sounds heavenly to me.

because i hate detest cold, dreary, dark, somber days, i sink into a funk every year around this time, and become cold, dreary, dark, and somber myself.  i grumble far more than usual.  i get irritated more easily.  even the simplest tasks become a pain in the you-know-what.  (take driving.  have you ever tried to squeeze a four-year old dressed in a puffy winter coat into a car seat?  i have to add five minutes to every trip just to stuff her into that dadgum britax.)  i try my hardest to conceal my funk from our children.  i try just as hard to convince myself that i'm succeeding.

this winter, in particular, has seemed never-ending.  and it's still january.  so when people began talking about the downright balmy weekend forecast, i kept a close eye on the news, my excitement rising ever so slightly with each passing day.  and then saturday, i awoke to the sound of birds chirping outside my window.  truly!  straight out of a disney movie -- i wanted to break out into song as bluebirds tied a ribbon in my hair ala cinderella.  the thermometer rose, and with it, my spirits.  the sun does exist!  there will be an end to this terrible season!  we can spend time in this vast area called the outdoors!

and outdoors we were.  in the back yard playing tag, in the driveway shooting hoops, at the playground on the monkey bars.  and, as icing on the cake, i unearthed a tennis skirt and sleeveless shirt from the depths of my closet and hit the court for the first time since november.  it was glorious!

and then, in my warm-up, i went for an overhead ... and threw out my back.  it's something i do maybe once every couple years, and, just my luck, my body chose this perfect saturday afternoon to decide it was about time again.  i've been pretty much immobile ever since, lying on a heating pad in my bed except for the occasional trip to hobble around like an old man to the kitchen or bathroom. 

i still hear those birds.  but they're not the bluebirds from cinderella; they're mockingbirds.  (get it?  they're mocking me.)

wake me up when it's spring.