Humanity

This morning I waved goodbye to Summer. I watched as it pulled away, taking with it the swim parties, barbecues, shorts and flip flops. It promised to return next year, but l couldn't stop a longing tear from escaping my no-longer-fashionably-shaded eyes. Such a warm and giving friend, whose offerings included flowers, vegetables, fruit. I turned and trudged sadly into my buttoned up, stuffy house. The leaves' dry fingers scratched longingly at the windows, as if they knew a warm fire and a sip of hot cider is all they needed to restore their former glory. I mourned my sunscreen and lemonade, and stared longingly at my beach towel and chair. Suddenly, feeling my life was fated to become as pasty as my skin, I realized that the cold shoulder was mine. Winter had blown into my life with boisterous aplomb, bringing cocoa and sweaters and snowmen, and it was me who rejected her and hibernated from her offers of ski trips and skates. It was as if I had been eating only oatmeal until now: I was malnourished and had missed out on the flavor of life! How boring would be the artist's canvas that contained only one color, one stroke, one perspective. So I welcomed my new friend Winter, in all her frigid fabulousness, with gingerbread and egg nog, and we began the journey to understanding together.