snow angel

MY VIEW: I wish I could harness winter’s magical powers
By JENNIFER SMITH

2/17/2005

A friend in Virginia e-mailed me a while back asking me a simple question: “If you know you’re prone to depression, why don’t you think about moving somewhere down South where it’s sunny and warm? I’m sure the gloomy, gray, cold winter in Buffalo doesn’t help. Right?”

Chuckle. Chuckle. Right.

Now, I know this man means well, looking out for my best interests, one might call it. And yes, I’m well aware of seasonal affective disorder. I’m sure there are many people in Western New York who are familiar with SAD.

However, I am not one of those people who suffer from it. I am one of the rare few who actually become more alive and thrive during the winter months.

Yes, it’s true. I actually enjoy and relish taking in every bitter cold breath during the Buffalo winter, my most favorite time of the year. Even at the end of February. And March – well at least until the day after St. Patrick’s Day.

All year long, I look forward to that one day when I will wake up and peer out from my snuggly, warm, heavily blanketed bed and see that first splendid accumulation covering the ground, coating the branches on the trees and slowing down everyone in town. Slowing down, but ever so slightly. After all, this is Buffalo.

My world is a just a little more peaceful, calm and reflective after a blanket of white falls from the sky. I feel refreshed and renewed. I’m suddenly swept away with childlike wonder and merriment.

I find myself baking cookies, lighting candles, filling crock pots with stew, catching snowflakes on my tongue, making snow angels, taking walks in the park and watching the dogs frolic about. Hot cocoa and coffee (sprinkled with Bailey’s Irish Cream or Peppermint Schnapps) tastes just a little more decadent when there’s snow on the ground.

While everyone else is sad and hiding indoors, I’m free to run amok in the streets. I sometimes imagine creating spontaneous snowmen on my neighbors’ lawns to greet them early in the morning.

Of course, if I had the money, the snowmen would also grant coupons for a cup of joe at Spot Coffee, or Cafe Aroma or Tim Hortons. Each coupon would come with a disclaimer that once it was cashed, the recipient could no longer be angry that a 30-something woman cavorted about his lawn and made little men out of that cursed snow.

Ahhh, wintertime. Every second warms my heart, even when it is 27-below with the wind chill factor. I even see the silver lining in a sub-zero day. A few days later, when the temperature has crept up to 30, it feels like spring. And spring is only a little more than a month away. That’s all, friends.

I wish I could harness the magical powers of winter and keep them with me during the rainy doldrums of spring. But until then, I will continue to laugh in the face of SAD.

I hope that each one of you takes a walk outside and seeks out the Winter Loving Disorder that I hold so dear before those crocuses and daffodils start peeking through the melted snow in a few months.

After all, what do you have to lose? And if you are looking to make a few good snowmen – look me up in the phone book.