In Defense Of The Seasons

I spent a spell down south in my younger days, and what I missed most about my native region during that period — and I missed plenty; I am nothing if not provincial — was the changing of the seasons. Warm weather is great, but there was something sad about the lack of variety — I firmly believe that you need the classic rotation: the promise of spring, the seduction of summer, the crispness of fall and the grim determination of winter. Each season is disappointing in its own way — spring is a sorry procession of rainy days and frizzy hair, summer never turns out quite the way you expected it would and there’s a lot of sweating, fall is always too short and all your plans to drink Irish coffee in leather jackets in the outside seating area of bars inevitably wind up with you laying half-dressed on the couch while disappointing football drones on in the background, and winter — well, let me tell you a story: When I was living far away I came home one winter for the holidays and took a cab from the airport to meet my father for lunch downtown. It was about a week before Christmas, and as we drained our initial Manhattans my dad began to muse about the upcoming celebration. “You know, when I was a kid,” he said, in a voice that suggested he wasn’t even aware of my presence anymore but actually talking to himself, realizing something for the first time, “I spent the whole year waiting for Christmas. The lights, the music, the presents… all of it. It really was the happiest time of all. Now,” and here he paused for a second, as if to review the substance of what he was about to say and to make sure its import registered, “all it does is remind me that I’m a year closer to death.” Which is severe, sure, but not untrue. And that’s what winter is. Anyway, what was my point? Oh, yes: the seasons. Whatever they lack, however they inevitably fall short, I still think it is important that we go through the annual cycle. We need them to remind us that life is in constant flux, that everything changes but eventually falls back on itself. That said, HOLY SHIT IT IS FUCKING FREEZING OUT. And will be for the rest of the week. Dress warm, kids.