Missing Spring

I have grown tired of winter. Snowfall has become an almost daily nuisance of late and snow days (which mean no work and no pay) and high heating bills every month have been wearing on my nerves. There are many obviously annoying things about winter: driving on ice, having to wear boots, scraping my car, etc. It's been many years since I've wanted to go sledding or have a snowball fight or build a snowman (without going along for the ride with others). As far as I'm concerned, snow is nice to look at and that's about all. I like seeing the first snow and I like a lot of the wintery things I associate with snow (Christmas, family time, ho-cho, etc.) but beyond that I'm just not into it anymore.

That said, I'm oh-so-ready for spring to arrive! I'm cheered daily by the fact that I can still see the sun when I leave work and that weather reports are predicting increasing temperatures. It means spring is (finally) on the way! I'm so looking forward to springtime smells and just can't wait for the first thunderstorm of the year. More than anything else, though, I long to open the balcony doors in our apartment and let the fresh air in. Right now opening the doors is not only nonsensical (it's stinkin' cold out) but also not possible (as we had to seal them up with that shrink wrap stuff to keep the heat in and attempt to save money). I like being able to go out onto our balcony, leave the doors open to welcome breezes and I have birdseed and peanuts just waiting for the critters that come to visit us.

Seasons are one of the things that I love about living in Michigan... I think I would really miss the cold snowy conditions were I to move away. But I can definitely say that (every year) winter and I are not friends as it is on its way out.