Winter Words

Winter.  Cold.  Freeze.  Snow.  Chill.  Ice.  Wind.  These words and others are often used starting about now and continuing for the next three or four months.  It’s winter; maybe not by the calendar—winter officially begins around December 21.  But according to the temperature, the wind chill, and the discomfort, it’s winter.

As we age, we tend, I think, to look forward to winter less and less.  There’s more chance of our breaking something if we slip and fall.  We feel the cold a little more deeply in our bones each year.  The time change seems to affect us more than it used to.  And the chill and the dark remind us that we’ve lived far more years than the number of years we have left to go on this earth.

Winter means pneumonia.  It means broken bones.  It means falling.  It means colds and flu.  For those of us who are older, it’s not a really great time of the year.  Yet winter can have its beauty and its majesty.  Winter can be a time when our sinuses take a rest from making us miserable because the pollen and weeds are dead and gone.  Winter can be a time of family gatherings and seeing relatives and friends we seldom see otherwise.  And winter can be a time of renewal…a time when we plan for the coming seasons and take stock of where we’ve been.

I know I’m getting to where I like winter less and less, most of the time.  The cold seems deeper and the darkness seems more overwhelming than it used to.  If I’m fortunate to live a long life, I have about 20 winters to go.  I need to get over this notion of winter being a time that I don’t like (OK, “despise” is a better word), and begin to appreciate it more for what it is and the importance that it is to the environment.

For you see, without winter, there would be no spring.  Without winter snows, there would be fewer spring crops.  Without winter, the weather would be so boring and ordinary.  And what about Christmas?  What is Christmas without winter and the chance of a white Christmas?

You know, as I think about it, maybe winter isn’t so bad after all.  Maybe winter can be a time of recovery, renewal, and anticipation.  Maybe winter can be a time when we recover a sense of balance in life, renew relationships, and anticipate the spring to come.

Winter.  Opportunity.  Renewal.  Balance.  Relationships.  Anticipation.  I think I like those words better.