WHAT DAY IS IT?

I seem to be lost in the What-the-heck-day-is-it? land of midwinter.  Life is just a series of identical days marching in some kind of a circular pattern passing an endless array of familiar landmarks like we’re trapped inside Fred and Wilma Flintstone’s house with no end in sight. 

Why am I here?  What am I supposed to be doing?  Was I doing something important?  If so, where was I doing it? 

I’ve often joked about being solar powered, but even with the lengthening of sunlit hours to our days my brain remains foggy and unfocussed.  Facebook has studied my algorithms and has suggested everything from vitamin supplements to possible parasite purges.  I used to like 80% of what Facebook had to offer and be annoyed with the other 20%.  Now it’s more like 5% to 95%, and ‘annoyed’ isn’t a strong enough word.

This syndrome happens every winter, I think.  I’m not sure – it’s that fuzzy thinking thing again.  I prefer outside work to inside housework so my aimlessly wandering from window to window looking out at the frozen white landscape in February is a form of slow-motion torture.  I long for grass to mow and weeds to pull and flowers to enjoy, but all there is out there is ice and snow and 40 below temperatures. 

I want to do laundry and hang it out on the line.

At this point I would even take an afternoon of cleaning up dog ‘residue’ over this endless imprisonment.

One would think that since we have a teenager living with us and going to school and hockey there would be a bit more structure to our retirement time.  It is true that we have more social commitments because of this but I still seem to have trouble keeping my days straight.  Tuesdays and Thursdays are hockey practice … except when changes are made.  School days should be pretty predictable … except for days the buses don’t run because it’s 40 below, or there are admin days (I think that’s what they are called).  We’ve also had a fair few sick days. And dentist days.  And storm days.  

Actually, any little thing can throw a person off: this year – 2026 – our church’s Shrove Tuesday pancake supper landed on a Thursday.  It’s kinks like that in the time/space continuum that can really mess things up.

If I didn’t have everything written on my old-fashioned wall calendar we would be totally lost.

I sincerely hope I have everything written up on my old-fashioned wall calendar.

Probably the worst component of this mind-numbing mundane-ness is having to come up with a menu for supper.  Every.  Single.  Night.

I’m 70 years old, for Pete’s sake.  When does this ever end? 

But, enough crying already.  As long as winter is, I’m not the only one who has to endure it.  I can’t do anything about it being February 21^st today but I can turn my eyes toward the future.  Spring will surely arrive in all its muddy glory just like it has all the other years.  The sun will shine and wrap me in a big, warm hug of welcome as I work in the yard, and hang out the laundry, and clean up dog ‘residue’.

In the shorter term I have a trip to Europe to look forward to … the tulips in Holland, castles and vineyards along the Rhine.  This is a bucket list item for me in the plans have been in the works for over a year.  I just have to make it through one more month …