A Day of Late-Spring in the Middle of Winter

As far as I know, there has never been a day in my entire life when the elements of reality were reversed on a mid-July day. I have seen hail in the summertime, but never a day when the temperature dropped to 28 degrees and snow buried all of the fresh flowers and forced the confused insects back into hibernation. There has never been such a day and there may never be one…ever. But this is fortunately not always the case in the wintertime. It could be due to the scientific effects of Global Warming or it could very well be a gift from God who senses our overwhelming misery and throws us a magical daylong vacation to sustain us until the late-spring takes over to restore life in vegetation and our spirits.

A few weeks ago on a Thursday, I made the choice to take a rare day off from work even though I was not sick or committed to an unavoidable obligation. I chose to stay home because the temperature was nearing record highs at around 70 degrees, and it was not even the end of February. The last time something like this happened was on Christmas Eve 2016. I was trapped in the office building of Living Resources, Inc. all day long and sadly could not enjoy the gift of freakishly warm winter weather. I vowed…never again! When the unseasonably warm weather once again blessed our souls I would cherish it for as long as possible. Days like this are not supposed to happen in the middle of February, and it would be a crime against nature if it were polluted by the adult realities of work. Perhaps schools should even be closed if there are enough snow days left or parents should allow their child to play hooky for only one day that year!

One of the reasons that I decided to take the day off is because one of the consequences for unseasonably warm weather is torrential rain after the reward has lingered for a few hours. I can remember one February when I was in middle school where the seventy degree weather permitted a long bicycle ride followed by one of the worst rainstorms that I have ever seen. The weather is basically telling us there is no such thing as a free lunch.

I spent Thursday working hard to complete all of my chores and also taking a thirteen-mile, round trip walk to my favorite restaurant in Albany the day before considering that I did not have to wake up early to go to the job. Weather in the late 60s brings out the childish pleasures in all of us. Like a vacation to Disney World, we know it is not going to last forever but we have a full day to embrace it. Such a day is absolutely perfect due to the fact that it is neither too hot or unbearably cold. It is a summer-like day that is also not plagued by mosquitoes, ticks or poison ivy that are the typical consequences of decent weather.

The restaurant stood out like an oasis after I had made my way through Western Avenue, Fuller Avenue, Central Avenue, and Wolf Road. It was also a reminder that if I were to have completed the journey once then I could possibly do it again and again until the goal of weight loss is finally met with an explosion of satisfaction. In a few days we would be back to reality, although this fissure in reality stands tall as a reminder that more of these days will be in their way in perhaps a month or two.

As I write this particular entry, I am watching a YouTube video called, Slide the City, which is about an extremely long waterslide that was built in Salt Lake City, Utah. We are never going to have a waterslide taking up all over Central Avenue like in this epic video, but we might was well experience such thrills by inhaling and exhaling a day out of our dreams. Sometimes we do not receive such a break during a winter that is relentless and unbearable. Other things are not working out in our lives aside from the weather. At least once in our lifetimes we must take the plunge and forcibly escape the torture. Buy that plane ticket and shave off at least a week of suffering by traveling to some exotic locale.