As a child I liked January. It seemed as if it was the month with the most “snow days” that closed our school. Since our treeless backyard sloped downhill it was the sled track for the neighborhood. There were many long afternoons and early evenings spent out there.
As a teenager, during my senior year in high school and through a few of my college years, January offered the same thrill and group activity at a somewhat hilly golf course in the city I grew up. One hill was aptly named “Suicide Hill”. During that era of my life I worked on weekends as a bus boy at a night club.
Myself and the three other guys I worked with got off work at 2:30 in the morning and would head over to. that golf course where quite a few high school and college age students would gather for a night of sledding down the hill. The white snow and the reflection of the city lights illuminated the course well enough to see. It was fun.
As a parent, several January's later, I would take our young children to the Fairfield County Fairgrounds to go sled riding. It was not long until they went there on their own. The memories of those fun filled January's helped me to enjoy, or at least endure, so many more Januarys through the ups and downs of life.
I know full well that January can be bleak. It can be especially bleak when you have lost someone close to you whether a life-long friend, a family member or a spouse. It may seem like there you were, and all of a sudden, it’s now here you are.
As a volunteer at FAIRHOPE Hospice and Palliative Care I have witnessed and come to understand how weather, the seasons and the passing of time can effect both happy and sad emotions. And how the seasonal affective disorder, coupled with the grief for a lost loved one, can sometimes seem unbearable.
For many of us, sledding down a hill after a January snowfall is not on the to-do list. However, do look for the beauty of snow on the branches a tree after a January snow. Know that you will eventually see the beauty of the snow and the beauty of life. In life we can love or dislike the snow, but either way we will still have the snow.
It seems like we need to be reminded of things we already know more often than we need to be taught new things. Know that every year will eventually run out of Winter. We know April is on the horizon, as is a full and happy life. Everything is going to be okay.
Author Rick Schneider
