A
few years ago if you told me (and many did) that Seasonal Affective Disorder
(S.A.D.) was real I’d have said it’s all in your mind. Well, I would have been
right about that part but it’s definitely real. I have it this winter.
Oh
the snow and cold bothered me in the past but there always seemed to be a light
at the end of the tunnel. I would rationalize and told others, and myself, that
pitchers and catchers report to spring training in mid-February. Of course,
looking back I realize spring training camps are in warm climates so how does
that help here? I’d point out opening day for baseball was close at hand and
the days are actually getting longer already. I tried all that this year but
those prognostications were covered over by forecasts of accumulating snow
after accumulating snow, the lowest temperatures in two decades, frozen pipes
bursting around us like the fireworks display on July 4th and barely
a day above freezing. There has appeared to be no light at the end of the
tunnel this winter.
Whether
or not a shrink would diagnose me with S.A.D., I sure have a good feel for it.
I’m not suicidal or planning to grab a clerk at the mall and holding them
hostage, but it is depressing. Call it cabin fever, S.A.D. or both; I’ve
experienced it this year. I’m hoping by publication time of this column one of
the extended forecasts has a temperature beginning with at least a number 5 but
the way this season is going, I won’t bank on it.
It
won’t take much to snap me out of it. A brief respite with some of that Ohio
spring weather I crave and that makes all this worth it. You know, the robins
searching out nest sites with the sun blazing brightly and a southerly breeze
blowing across your skin. It makes you realize it won’t be long before the coats,
scarves and boots can be put away until next winter.
I
know many of you are probably feeling the same way this year and I hate to
burden you with my whining but it is a bit cathartic to share it in print
anyway. Yes, I can almost feel the warm sun on my skin as I sit and type this!
Oh wait, that’s not the warm sun, it’s the ends of my fingers thawing out from
the three hours of shoveling I just finished as the arctic winds smashed
against my cheeks. Hurry spring, we all deserve it this year. Darn global
warming!
