The Hard Times

I might have mentioned this before, if not you are hearing it here first. I do not like the middle of winter. January and February are the hardest months for me. I’m pretty sure I have SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). I was aware of this as early as junior high. My 3rd quarter grades always slumped (okay A’s to B’s – I should complain?) and I paced the house looking for things to do and not wanting to do any of them.

In Illinois (where I grew up) this time of year was always cold, snowy and/or icy. I did not want to go outside. I did not like winter sports, partly I blame that on a touch of frostbite as an elementary child either from ice skating, or more likely waiting outside at school for the doors to open after walking the 1/2 mile there. Pretty sure it was 1/2 mile, and no it wasn’t uphill both ways, this was northern Illinois, we don’t have hills.

I honestly tried to learn to ski in high school in a unique PE class where we ‘did things’ like learn to sail in small 2 man boats, rock climb and one of the activities…ski. This class was structured so that you did these activities outside of school hours and you had to show up for enough hours for the credit. I was all in for the sail boating in the fall, but I only went on one ski night and that was it.

The temperatures were low enough that you were only supposed to be out in the weather for about 10 minutes (yes that cold) and it was man-made snow as we hadn’t had any real snow. I got my skis and went down the hill. (I will not call it a mountain any more than Turkey Mountain in Tulsa, or Mt. Scott by Lawton, OK are mountains.). I came down the hill the safest way I could as it was more ice than snow and that was to sit down on my skis and coast. At the bottom of the hill I took off my skis, turned them in and waited inside in the warmth until it was time to leave. That was the last time I even thought about putting on a pair of skis, even when I went with friends to ski in Italy. Nope, Nada, Niente. After that as I did not need the credit for graduation, I dropped out of the class.

So, January and February became the sit inside, watch winter sports on tv (I love you figure skating, and I would physically help push the ski jumpers into the air with my body motion) and go stir crazy.

The only thing I can say is it is a good thing I never had to live in Alaska or such places where winter is much longer. One of my aunts lived in Alaska but moved to Illinois at one point and on her end table was a book on stories about living in Alaska. Killing time on one visit I was looking through it and found this little snippet about how Alaskans reply to a question about where someone is. They were either Inside (in Alaska), Outside (in the lower 48) or Morningside (a mental hospital in Seattle for those that went stir crazy.)

Yep, that would have been me, Morningside.