"Change is in the Air. Can't You Feel it?"

"Change is in the Air. Can't You Feel it?"

I heard a guest speaker on the radio say that when I was driving home a little while ago. They were talking about how wine drinkers vary their types of wine depending upon the season. One of the hosts had just said something about how she's been into the robust, dark reds, lately.

I don't drink alcohol. I especially can't drink wine, it often makes my throat feel like it's closing up and after just a few sips it can give me a painful hangover. But, I like NPR, no matter the subject, so I listened.

The guest speaker's voice sounded so excited and hopeful, that my mind drifted away from the radio to the thought of  "change in the air". 

As everyone knows, this has been one very long, hellish winter. 

Well, "hellish" can't be right the right word, can it?

That would imply "burning hot".

Bitter, bone-chilling, exhausting, or as my word-wise daughter-in-law commented, "This snow has been 'relentless', it feels like it comes and kicks us when we are still down".

Even my snow-loving-winter friends seem a bit worn down this year. The people who used to piss me off by their positive comments about the beauty of snow, the wonders of New England's changing seasons, and "spring is right around the corner" seem to have lost their pep and seem to need a change as much as I do. 

This comes as a disappointing shock to me, the summer-forever-lover.

The generally over confident and hearty Yankee-spirit has been broken. New England is not only full of snowbanks and filthy cars, but of tired eyes with a look of despair peeking out of heads covered in hats, wrapped in layers of wool scarves.

The weather wasn't the only horrible event this winter. Too many of my friends and relatives lost their beloved pets. The flu and stomach bugs seemed violent this year.

It wasn't just ice dams, flat tires, endless driveway shoveling, not to mention roof shoveling, power outages, public transportation breaking down, snowblowers, and plows breaking down, potholes or water pipes and septic systems freezing up (twice for us, in our "Cha-cha" house!!!?) There were events that were far worse, which put the "hellish" winter into perspective...

While experiencing the same winter as we were;

There were friends who's family member had a stroke. Other friends were diagnosed with cancer. Others had major surgery. Some close relatives had a house fire, and there was a horrific tragedy to some close loved ones, who are still trying to piece life back together and live without the nightmarish memory popping up and freezing them in their tracks of their baby steps forward. Life as they knew it changed in an instant.

Knowing tomorrow is the first day of spring, I still was still cynical because I had heard the weather forecast. Even though we've had much lower temperatures over the past few months, the dew point is making the current 30 degrees fahrenheit feels much colder than it has been. The cold seems sharp and it hurts.

But then, as I drove home, learning about wine, for the first time all winter; I heard what sounded like the most genuine and enthusiastically hopeful sounding voice say,

"Change is in the Air. Can't You Feel it?"

Suddenly, I did.

3/19/15