Goodbye winter and good riddance

First a hearty and happy St. Patrick’s Day to all those who celebrate this Saturday. Enjoy your green beverages, ham and cabbage and traditional Irish fare as we ring all things green this Saturday.

Speaking of green, next Wednesday the 21st marks the beginning of spring. If that groundhog who holds court out west was right, spring should arrive a bit earlier this year. That suits me fine. While this winter was mild by comparison to many years past it was one I won’t miss. Winter arrived late with two nuisance and troublesome storms offering worse than snow but the dreaded ‘wintry’ mix of sleet, freezing rain and snow creating an absolute mess for all of us to trudge through these past few weeks.

In an effort to try and enjoy all seasons, when weather and illness interfere with work, school and activities, it’s tough to have any love lost for this or any winter season. Not that the other seasons are without their problems, winter just seems to be the problem child among Mother Nature’s brood. As you read this my two have just gotten over, like many in their school and classroom the ‘virus’ thats been going around. This ‘virus’ isn’t the flu, and it’s been downright nasty. I’ll spare you the details of its symptoms but suffice to say it’s been the gift that’s kept on giving in my household. First my youngest caught this bug, then my oldest and hopefully as you read this mom and I have been able to play keep away from this seasonal malady.

One of the things becoming clear to me as I grow older and more entrenched in parenting is how much a day is worth. When someone in the family gets sick and misses a day it throws everything off. Just as a precaution I always check my calendar and wonder with both boys being sick which day their bug stings me or mom. Trying to figure out which day would be best to lay home ill is like trying to find a single spec of sand on the Jersey beach. No day works, they’re all busy. Commerce, meetings, activities, household bills, chores all stack up when you make it to work and to task each day, miss one and look out, it’s a back breaker crawling back to square. I hope I don’t start sounding redundant referring to my dad but I’m going to take the opportunity again here, Dad would say ‘if you think no one cares, try skipping a payment or two’, or he’d announce ‘if you don’t think a lot gets done in a day, miss one then let me know how that went’.

I of course, like many things dad said back in the day would give little credence to his remarks and just move onto my next item of business. Now dad’s comments ring more loudly and more relevant than when I first heard them. For those of us raising kids, especially younger ones, it’s one of parenting’s toughest challenges to get them cared for while missing the least amount of work, activities and school. Parking the kids to mend while parents work is a challenge, which parent takes off to be with the kids, which kid is well enough to go to school, sick enough to stay home but not sick enough to go the doctor and more plague us until everyone’s back to good health. Add to the furor of winter’s wild and ugly weather, sickness, work, school, activities and you’ve got a recipe for ‘stressed out syndrome’ that’s enough to get anyone waving the white flag.

The quiet of a winter night, getting caught stopped at home with the boys due to weather forcing the rat race to shut down for a while is one of the few things I do like about winter, but I promise I won’t miss it as it makes its way to the door. Weather aside winter’s downright too busy. A lot gets dumped into winter from the business world. Annual planning, meetings all get cracking now in fourth gear. Back at home in the business of family, there’s tax preparation, bills from holiday shopping coming due and other annual bills showing balances and stacking up. Keeping up for most of us requires our good health and smart thinking on the spending and saving side of the house to insure everything moves along accordingly.

The good news is that winter’s about to go. Good riddance. See ‘ya later old man winter go bug someone else.

In my business of advertising the sure sign that spring and summer is on the way is our amusement and theme park clients start requesting commercial prices from us as they go to planning their marketing to set up for opening day, now just about a month or so away. We’ve moved the clocks ahead, spring arrives in a few days and soon winter 07 goes down in the history books. Soon we’ll be flipping the grills back open, finding the shorts, t shirts and sandals again, thinking of when the pools open and planning an end of school activities and summer vacations. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait.

Except for a couple of annoying allergies that can crop up in April and May, spring is a welcome friend after a few weeks of winter’s worst. I still maintain the worst part of winter isn’t the weather but the chase to stay healthy and work through a tough couple of months, taking care of a lot in the work place and with school activities. That’s the endurance test once passed makes you long for warmer weather, sunshine, barbecues, beaches and pools. Hang in there, just a few more days before winter gets evicted by spring. Stay healthy, keep strong and congratulations for getting through the most miserable part of any year. See ya around town.