Last night–and very early morning– some friends and I celebrated Amber’s Birthday. 9 degrees didn’t stop us from BYOB dinner and then dive bar dancing. Embarrassingly, my muscles are sore from dancing. This means two things. I am out of shape and I don’t get out much this time of year.
One of the topics at dinner was of course the winter blahs. Everyone has been suffering through a particularly harsh winter. The good news is that we are all caught up on LOST, The Wire, or the guilty pleasure of the Twilight books. But this gets old.
We are turning the corner it seems. Just in the last week, as the light is lingering until almost 5 pm (GASP), we have decided to fight back. Haircuts, new clothes, the gym, and plans outside of the couch have been made. We still may have a solid 4 months until a spring day, but we are somehow simultaneously tired of being dominated by the cold, and are willing to bite back. We really are just animals that are very effected by the seasons. Only hibernation is sadly frowned upon.
I lived in Florida for four years before moving to Chicago. You could wake up in October and think it is May, cause there is really not much difference. There are advantages to a season-less climate, although it feels a bit like cheating. The cycle of the year is not a really cycle at all without seasons.
When spring does arrive in Chicago, the sense of community is stronger than any other time of the year. Much like a city that has been hit by disaster, has fought through together, and emerged stronger and more united. Almost. But the idea is that everyone is giddy city-wide. Like we are congratulating ourselves and our neighbors on making it through. Nothing stops Chicagoans from enjoying the warm months with an ecstatic frenzy. Like those puppies that will gorge themselves to death if you keep unlimited food out. I would like to vote to change New Years day to May 1st. It is much more fitting.
