Never Satisfied

A week ago I was wearing sandals and this week, my winter coat.  I shouldn't be surprised considering I live in Minnesota and this always happens.

I often hear people say that they are looking forward to the cooler temperatures.  They are awaiting Friday night football, sweatshirts, and the turn of the leaves.  Like comfort food, the turn of the weather provides a potato and meat fullness.  We blanket ourselves in layers of clothing that conceal the imperfections and create a sense of security.

After the leaves have fallen and raked into piles and after the boys of Fall have scored their last touchdown, we tend to turn on this glorious season.  Windows that faced once colorful, leafy trees, now seemingly, reflect sticks stuck in brown earth. The sharp turn does not steer us in the wrong direction however because we look forward to a snowy pureness that might arrive any day.

We can make it through Thanksgiving with its abundance of aromas, food, and decorations.  The day after our own stuffing, we set up Christmas trees, send husbands outside to put up lights, reflect our children's homemade school ornaments that tell the story of their school years on the tree.  We exchange the orange, browns, and leafy designs that accompanied Indian corn, gourds and pumpkins.  Discarded, they are thrown into the trash or put away in plastic bins marked Fall Decorations until they are needed again in less than a year.  Red and green strip away the mayhem of Fall and now we are all prepared for Winter.  Are we actually?

Perhaps we are ready for Christmas and the holiday season?  Snow looks beautiful in December but we turn on it.  In January we are still a bit smitten and by February we need a break from it and by March, well, we are mad......it needs to go away.  Is it really the snows fault?  Shouldn't the fault be split between the lack of sunlight, the bitterness of the temperatures, or the lack of any holiday to look forward to?

If we are lucky, we get to have a Spring.  We get the smell of the muddy, watery aroma that permeates the air with hope.  Chilly air mixes with heated streams given out infrequently by the still timid sun.

Summer arrives and the sun dominates.  This overshadows any need for a holiday.  We forget the urgency to look forward because every day is like a school recess period.  The weekends are a field trip without supervision.  The possibility of fun seems endless.  It is the elementary school portion of weather.  It provides release until of course, we are ready to move on and have grown tired of the hot temperatures.

Sitting in the stands at a Friday night football game, during half-time runs to the concession stand for hot chocolate, someone in line mentions how nice the cooler weather feels. Another comments about the harvest and yet another remarks how beautiful the trees look on Fox Road. As the moon replaces the sun, there is a slight rustle of brittle corn and dry leaves.