Can you see spring just over horizon?

So I made the decision not to whine about winter this year and I HOPE YOU ALL NOTICED BECAUSE NOT WHINING IS VERY HARD.

Anyway, I've been doing my best! To embrace! The season! Because who wouldn't want to embrace something that's dark and cold and lasts for three months that ACTUALLY feel like three insanely long and joyless dispensations of time?

(Please note this isn't whining. This is merely fact-stating.)

To this end I have been doing season-embracing things such as eating yummy soup, sipping hot cocoa, reading detective novels, sitting by the fireplace and helping my son pull his car out of ditches on snowy days…

Winter! It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Here's what else I've been doing: (a) watching the Olympics and (b) imagining what my husband would like in one of Johnny Weir's figure skating outfits. And I hope that now you're all trying to imagine the same thing, too!

In other words, I've been doing my level best to "be present in the moment." "Even if the moment is winter."

But I won't lie. When I went to St. George last weekend and heard bullfrogs croaking near my parents' condo, I nearly imploded with happiness. Spring is coming. Yes, it is. I submit further evidence for your consideration:

1. There are potted hyacinths for sale at grocery stores.

2. Also bunches of tulips and daffodils!

3. The days are getting just a leetle longer (which means I don't have to put my pajamas on at 5:30 in the afternoon).

4. I can see Valentine's Day in my rearview mirror.

5. I can also see the NBA All-Star game in my rearview mirror.

6. On the other hand, I can stand on my front porch and catch a bracing whiff of the coming March Madness.

7. Hey! Bags of my favorite candy (Brach's malted milk eggs) are turning up at the Shopko nearest you.

8. I wore flip-flops to the store the other day and didn't freeze.

9. I also saw my friend Sally at the store wearing HER flip-flops and she didn't freeze, either.

10. My husband just bought season tickets for the Bees.

11. There are pansies! In my front yard!