It never fails, Oklahoma weather is confusing no matter the season. Christmas Day felt like a beautiful spring afternoon, and now it's two days after Christmas and, it finally looks and feels like Christmas.
It will probably feel like winter for at least two more months, with a few warm days mixed in here and there, making the cold months drag on. There's just something depressing about this. When it's cold outside with nothing to do, it's just kinda sad. The grass and trees lay dormant giving the landscape and 'dead look,' and the nights come super early. Basically, when it's just winter and the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's holidays are over, the cold weather just kind of loses its appeal.
The things I like about cold weather tend to revolve around the holidays, like most people. I enjoy the Christmas feeling, snow, fireplaces and flannels, but after New Years, I'm just kind of ready for it to be over and ready for spring.
Today is a prime example. There's a north wind of 30 mph, it's sleeting and it's 30 degrees outside. Every inch of me is ready for spring, but that's just not how things work; however there is that longing for spring.
I'm not sure what I would do it I knew in my mind I had zero hope for warm weather ever again. If there was no hope for green grass, blue skies and baseball games, I think I'd go crazy. It's that little ounce of hope that keeps me going and keeps me bearing through the winter season because it is just that, a season.
I want to look at life more like this now too. I want to be able to look at it in a way that has hope for new seasons if I'm in the midst of a tough one. It won't always be winter, and life won't always be difficult. There are seasons and times for everything, and it's the hope of those new seasons that keeps us all going.
-Cliff
Cliff's Note: "It's always winter, but never Christmas."