Doldrums

As we come to the end of the month, I look back, not only at the last 29 days, but back through the years. It has always seemed to me as if February is one of the hardest months to get through.  I think back to school days and I remember it seemed as if February would never end. Too many tests and Spring Break still seemed out of sight  - far off in the future. In the days I ran residence halls for Drake, as Hall Directors, we always knew this was the month with the most craziness. This was the month roomates would decide they had enough of each other and this was the month people would walk out into the hallway and just start fighting with each other. February was always hard work.

So, of course the question is why? I think there are a lot of reasons.  Part of the issue is that by this point, winter has been around too long. I think the days are too short and the nights are too long. We have a lot of the nasty weather in February, and even more important, February is generally without sunlight. Gray days most of the time.  I think part of it is because we come off such a high time, with Christmas, New Year, Super Bowl, you pick the thing which is most important, but in February there isn't much after Valentine's Day has come and gone.  And finally, it's the shortest month of the year, so all of your regular payments come way too close to each other. Had you thought of that one?  

But guess what? The other end of the spectrum is coming. Spring is just around the corner and before we know it, farmers will be planting fields and trees will be sprouting their little buds which lead to them leafing out. We will have reached the Spring Break period for families and students, and all will seem better. We will see the last snow storm of the season come and go and we will know it will get warm and stay warm.

So, as we reach this time of change and the promises of Spring, I guess the question for me is what will I do with it?  Every year I look forward to this: waiting for the end of winter, waiting for the time I can put the coat away for good. And every year, I think of the items I have left over from the year before which haven't been completed. I am on year three for a patio project. It needs a little more rock and I need to move the grill upstairs where it's easier to use. I need to put a second coat of paint on the garage door. This has been waiting since the year Megan graduated from High school.  I should probably get that done, don't you think?

I'm coming to the end of February and the beginning of March and am going back to one of the things I learned while working at Drake. This is a planning season, the time you think about the things coming up and see if you can make sure these go better next time around. We have a lot of things coming up this year - I should try to be ready for them. And I've learned a very valuable lesson in the shop lately. I discovered that if I really set my mind to something, and really work on it, a project moves forward at a nice clip. I believe I will have photos of a new bedstead I've been working on to show you in the next couple of weeks.  

A great deal of my life I thought I was pretty organized and got a lot done. Thinking through the doldrums of February have put me in a different place. I do get a lot done at work nearly every day, but when I come home it's really easy for me to turn into a slug and time passes and gets away from me. I have, like many people, lost years to sitting on the couch and watching television. Now, I'm not for a minute saying I will eliminate it all, but I am saying I will work diligently to curtail time-wasting activity. Also, I have to start thinking about building kitchen cabinets. We have been working toward a kitchen remodel for quite some time and it needs to start now.

Finally, I have an order for a teardrop trailer to make for my sister by her birthday. Fortunately, it is not for this birthday, but for one coming up which ends in a "0", but will be here before you know it (sorry for saying so Jaye).  I guess I had better get busy there as well.  Okay, out of the doldrums of February and into the frenetic activity of Spring.  Anyone care to go with me?