Well, yesterday was the last full day of winter. Today will see the vernal equinox finally approach, and by day's end, this winter will be merely a memory - at least officially.
At 12:57pm ET (9:57AM Pacific) later today, this long, long dreary winter will finally come to a close. it was among the snowiest winters in many parts of the continent, and reached the most severe winter that some regions have ever seen, including particularly the Midwest. Philadelphia suffered one of the snowiest winters ever, as did Washington, D.C..
Here in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area, we were in the top ten, to my understanding. The snowstorms seemed relentless from about mid- to late December, maybe, to around late February. Since then, however, it seemed to finally slow down a bit, and we never got seriously hit afterward, which is a bit of a surprise, frankly.
Still, the time that we did get storms, they just never seemed to end. The snow just kept piling up, and the temperature never seemed to rise high enough to melt any of it. Before long, the snow was piled incredibly high, and it took some effort to throw the snow you just shoveled over the small mountains of snow to the side. Also, I never saw so many damn potholes on the road as was seen this winter. Hell, even our first ever area Super Bowl was a huge disappointment, with the game being effectively over by the second quarter.
If you have been following my blogs, or know me personally, then you know that it was probably the worst winter of my life. It will probably continue a bit longer, too. I don't see it improving dramatically until perhaps mid-April - and I am approaching that with some measure of caution, to boot, because I thought that I saw light at the end of the tunnel before, only to be disappointed when these turned out not to be what I was hoping for.
In short, the weather sucked, but I also got laid off, officially divorced, had someone hit my car, was rejected for one potential job, had a surprisingly difficult time actually getting the second job that always seems to be right there (as of right now, according to the time estimates that were given to me, I should be working, hopefully, in about a week and change). As an extension of some of these things, my financial situation was particularly abysmal. Never been a millionaire, mind you. But the last few months, since around the holiday season, have just been ridiculous. It would have been comical, if it were not so stressful.
Also, my girlfriend and I seemed to have more arguments than ever before, and my suspicion is that the financial situation was at the heart of it all. She's been having a rough time at work, and the weather was getting to her, too, much like it got to everyone else.
So, yes, it has definitely been a rough winter and, truth be told, I am not sad to see it go. In fact, I have never felt so ready to see a winter go in my life, and to welcome the spring.
Earlier this month, I was experiencing some relatively mild insomnia. In particular, this was true on the first couple of days of March, which made those two days feel unusually long. After two days, I felt like it should probably have been March 6th, although it obviously was not. Since then, however, the days went back to flying by, perhaps feeling even quicker than usual.
And, in truth, I am feeling a lot better. More optimistic, really. Perhaps the warming weather has something to do with it. Perhaps it is because that other job really does seem to be about to come through, finally. Perhaps it is because I began selling some stuff on Ebay, for the first time ever. It is something that I have been meaning to do for a long, long time, but never actually did. This time, really more out of necessity than anything else, I finally did put some stuff up for sale.
Perhaps it is all of those things, and perhaps more. Really, I think a part of it is simply having gone through all of that and feeling, on some levels, like I have changed as a result. Hopefully, the change is real, and hopefully, it is also for the better. But time will tell.
In any case, as I write this, it is still, for the moment, officially winter. The last few hours of this horrendous winter, before the milder days of spring, and it could not have come here at a better time! The next time you hear from me on The Charbor Chronicles, it will be spring here in the northern hemisphere!
Just that thought alone is enough to cheer me up, and I know, after the winter that we all experienced, that I'm certainly not alone with that sentiment!
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