Winter isn't bad here in Charlotte, but it's bad enough. We don't have snow piled up in front of the house in drifts of glistening white. I guess if we did, the snow would hide the dead leaves. But I grew up in New England where seven feet of snow on either side of the driveway seemed to be the norm. Growing up, I had enough shoveling to last me a lifetime and more. Here is how it would work. Our driveway was on an incline so the base was lower than the top near the garage. We would get out the shovels and push the snow downhill to the bottom of the driveway into the street. Some snows were light, fluffy and we actually had fun shoveling. But in New England we had a lot of heavy snows - those "noreasters" carry a lot of moisture. A noreaster blows in from the north Atlantic Ocean mixing with the cold from Canada creating heavy, wet snow that blankets the landscape and makes shoveling very difficult. Invariably as we would clear the driveway, the town's plows would come through and create small mountains blocking the driveway's entrance. Pushing that snow away to make a gateway into the driveway could prove more than difficult for a child's strength. I would get mad and curse at the snow plow - although never out loud. That language was not abided in our household. Many times I wanted to give the snow plow driver the finger but in a small town that would have gotten out quickly. So I'd push and grunt to get the heavy blocks off the driveway and turn around - no! The snow would still be falling and it would be time to shovel it all over again.
Yes, I'm ready to leave winter behind. But what is about the second of February that makes Americans faithfully look for a rodent's shadow. Each year I wonder why is it that we believe if a quirky little marmot sees its shadow in February in a little town in Pennsylvania, we will have more or less winter ahead of us? How does something like that get into our national psyche? What does it say about us as a people? Are we duped into believing something as silly as a rodent can predict the future? When did rodents become cute in our country that we create an annual holiday featuring them as the main star? I did some reading and discovered groundhog day started as a totally humorous folklore. I think someone was pulling someone's leg and it grabbed on like an urban myth. It is exactly six weeks until the first day of spring. "Therefore, if the groundhog saw his shadow on Groundhog Day there would be six more weeks of winter. If he didn't, there would be 42 more days of winter. In other words, the Groundhog Day tradition may have begun as a bit of folk humor," according to Don Yoder who wrote a book in 2003 called [well, what else?]
All silliness aside, I like to hope winter is behind us. On my way to class last night I noticed the plum blossoms are itching to burst forth. If the temperatures dip below freezing this week, spring will be short-lived. I like spring the best in Charlotte. Longer days, warmer temps and I can actually walk around without a coat. Maybe that is a big reason why I have such a disdain for winter. I hate wearing a lot of clothes. I like my uniform of tank tops and shorts that I normally wear from spring through fall instead of all these layers.
So we are another day closer to the first day of spring. I like it. Even if we celebrate with a goofy animal from a funny-sounding name in a northern state. Spring is on its way. Hurrah!
