March in Michigan: In like a…….

Like that annoying relative, winter just won't go away

My mom was always big on the "little holidays." They weren't really holidays. They were more the unsung milestones of the calendar year:  Shrove (Fat) Tuesday, April Fool's Day, May Pole Day, Summer solstice (longest day) and winter solstice (longest night). Like today, March 1st. She seemed to look forward to March 1st, that first baby step toward spring, and would always announce, "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb." (She added a disclaimer, however, adding that, in fact, if March 1st arrived like a lamb the month would go out like a lion.) And this I could understand as a small child in Portland, Oregon: There it meant raining or not raining, the math was easy.

Here in Michigan it's a little more difficult. Today it's cloudy but there is no raging storm. It's 23 degrees with a forecast high of 27 and occasional snow showers. Just a regular old winter day. So, mom, lion or lamb? I mean, at this point it has been a hard Michigan winter with well over 65 inches of snowfall, a day like today isn't so bad: No icy roads or sidewalks, no blowing snow, no howling sub-zero wind, you can drive places without concern.

For most people in this neck of the woods it's neither lion or lamb. In fact, we need a whole new vocabulary. It would have to be Polar Bear, Snow Leopard, or Arctic Fox. Actually, and more to the point, it's that annoying relative you had to, but didn't want to, invite in the first place and who now just won't go home!

Oscar Wilde wrote, "Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative." Maybe so. But here in Michigan, on March 1st of 2014, it's the conversation of those who are desperate for relief from a long cold winter. We're definitely looking for this guest to leave. Bring out the lambs.