Waiting for better weather
W
e’re in the shortest month of the year, February. I am delighted that with the exception of leap years, this month stretches no longer than 28 days. I am not saying that the second of 12 months is a bad month, I’m saying that it is just not my personal favorite. February is surrounded by a couple of exciting months that I like much better. All right, so we do have that romantic day in February – Valentine’s Day, yippee. Still, my take on February hasn’t changed. I married my ex-wife in February. We didn’t get married on Valentine’s Day, mostly because I thought that would be a little hokey. I openly acknowledge that I am not the best in remembering dates of interest, like birthdays and other couples anniversaries, I considered it best to get married on another holiday in February. I persuaded everyone involved to make it Groundhog’s Day. They bought it, and for a few “fingernails-on-the-blackboard” years, Groundhog’s Day took on an additional meaning in my house. Since D-day (day of my divorce), I’m fully content to see if that goofy looking little critter sees his shadow or not. February is also the coldest month of the year in the South. Most years, January offers us a few short-sleeve days to play golf, and March most certainly does the same, but in February – we rarely get that lucky. At my age, it takes a bunch of layers to keep me outdoors on the course, and with our first month of spring season being in February, I’ve got to be out there – like it or not. Although I do it, I don’t like to layer up to stay warm. To play golf and maintain any
16 Lake Martin Living
flexibility, layering is the way to go, including, on most days, a couple layers of socks, which leave my toes bunched up and crammed in my shoes. The best part of these days in February is coming home to peel these layers off and put on a warm sweatshirt and sweatpants, a cozy pair of slippers and let the bones warm up again. February offers us only one good football game, and in most years, it’s not that good of a game – the Super Bowl. However, this year could be a different story, who knows? It most certainly will be a little different as Tom Brady will be watching it rather than playing in it. He’s played in 10 of these Super Bowls over the last two decades. Some of the games have been fun to watch where most others the best part of the game was found in the commercials. For golfers in our neck of the woods, February has us awaiting the green grass growing period, the flower buds that accent and give color to our golf courses, the rise of the water in Lake Martin for the spring, summer and fall seasons and the anxiousness of the next upcoming Masters. February reminds me of trips to Six Flags and Disney World. Not because of all the fun we had at these Parks, but the time waiting in
