It’s been a tough assignment this time around – write something that is upbeat and maybe even a bit humorous in these uncertain times. Every time I thought I was feeling a bit light hearted… it snowed again.
I get it – we live in New England. I fully understand that March is a rough month, but the older I get the more I think it’s time that March grew up too.
Maybe it’s time to gently tell March, “Just because you are on the tail end of winter doesn’t mean that you have to constantly show us that you can do storms better than your sister months of December through February.”
When you think of it, March is like the middle child.
It’s not the first blast of winter that sets us back on our heels and it’s not the sweet young thing of April where everything is new and we marvel at it’s beauty and sweetness. No, March is just hanging around in the middle, not quite winter and not quite spring, struggling with its own identity crisis and trying to make itself known. I, for one, am tired of it.
Let’s start a “Grow Up March” March.
Not to make light of the reasons, but we’ve marched about everything else for the past two years, haven’t we? I would say they have been extremely successful exercises in calling attention to important causes. Yet, we sit around and complain about March, thinking there is nothing we can do about it.
If we have learned one thing over the past two years, it’s that we do not have to accept the status quo and that we can stand up, fight and effect change. March, here we come.
Admittedly, March is not going to be happy.
I am sure it thinks it is too big and too important to change. After all, it contains the Ides of March, the Spring (or March) Equinox, Saint Patrick’s Day, Daylight Savings Time, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Palm Sunday, and some years it contains Passover and Easter. That’s pretty much the Super Bowl of holidays for many of us – all in one month. (FYI- it also contains Casimir Pulaski Day in Illinois).
I don’t care. A child can be a superstar in academics and sports, but if his or her behavior is unacceptable, intervention is still required. March – you are in that category. If March grew up, just a tad, it might realize that all this disruptive weather business is unnecessary.
It could just as easily brand its name as the month that helps us all to ease out of winter and into spring.
It could regulate the temperatures and never dip below 32. It could give us cool mornings, warm afternoons and blustery evenings. See how that works out? We ease out of winter and step into spring, all with the courtesy of a polite, well-behaved March. I don’t think it’s too much to ask. In fact, I would even give it permission to have one rotten, cold, wind-swept day in the middle just to get it out of its system and show us what it can do. After all, it is important to let children feel their power once in a while.
We will have to wait until next year to put together our “Grow up March” March, but I say we do it.
It will take all of us. And we will have to present a concerted front. I feel it is worth the effort. How many more years can we live with this snowstorm in March nonsense? I’m ready to get out some spring shoes and a bright color or two. March will just have to grow up so I can do it, and move on to Spring.