The Doorway to Winter

It won't be long now until it's winter. Too bad humans don't hibernate for months on end. I think the bit of respit would be good for us all. Just think: two or three months slumber, unencumbered by bills or tears, by inexplicable reasons for Internet not working, by human drama, no texts, no faxes (yes, some people still fax though why I am not sure,) no hair care products, no issues with plugged drains or worries about who fed the dogs or why the cat is missing.

Winter holds all kinds of symbolism in it. Some of it's bullshit, seasonal, very Walgreen's. Some of it is instilled in us from memories, very filial, like hot cocoa with grandpa. And some of it is intrinsic and embedded, like the knowing in our olfactory glands that tells us, "hey, pssst, winter is afoot."

But are any of these more important than the other? I say no. I say the ebb and flow of them all, the mixing of them like half and half in coffee that you've added sugar to, that's what makes it the time in 12 months that sends you reeling, thinking of times past, wondering what to do, where to go, who is who, and among them, who is you.

Seasonal depression. Yes, there is sadness in the cold. But there is sadness in all things if that's what you're after. Shit, you can find fuck all in anything. You can find happiness in a slaughter, people do it all the time, "Oh this steak is delicious!" Nothing wrong with it, it's all perspective, and the perspective that the lense of winter gives us is generally a foggy one, a glass through which lesser known things in other seasons can be seen. It's a time for paucity, a time for reflection, a time to mourn the scheduled pain of the past year, a time to forget that forgiving is good because the time of marinating in experience is on time again, as it is each year.

Winter each year comes on and seems like a decade, then as spring approaches, it's all wrapped up like Christmas and we forget it was ever there until the next set of cooler months approach. But cooler months are all the time, in everyday life. Each day holds all seasons, and each moment is a season itself.

I look forward to winter. I love how the traffic behind my house sounds different, I love how the wind seems to echo in cold weather, I love how people gather, though I wish for meaning in other seasons. For now, the cat is missing, there is a plugged drain, and I have to feed the dogs. Evolution, please provide us with hibernation.