He Can't Stay Long

This weekend I was reunited with an old friend that I hadn’t seen in a long time. It was great to finally reconnect because his infectious personality really brightens my day and never fails to lift my spirits. I like to call my friend the sun.

By no intention on my part, the sun and I had lost touch. Despite my efforts, he wasn’t interested in catching up or even nodding in my general direction. Usually every year right around this time, there’s a stretch of days when it’s dark and gloomy and 90% of each day is filled with rain. In my part of the country, meteorologists refer to this time as "February."

During "February," whenever you walk outside, it’s often difficult to tell the difference between 4 p.m. and 11 p.m. The prominent grayness tends to wear on people, understandably. Passing the time is more difficult when the weather isn’t nice, mainly because there are so many things you can do when it is.

For instance, when the weather’s nice you can go for a walk, go for a run, barbecue, catch a ballgame, fly a kite, play any number of sports, like golf, tennis, softball, football, badminton, cricket, hop scotch, the high jump, you can go waterskiing, go for a drive, go on a picnic, sit on your deck and read the newspaper, spend time at the beach, go hang gliding, feed the ducks, plant a tree, clean out the gutters, repave your driveway or form a human pyramid.

Don’t get me wrong, I like all the seasons and can appreciate the qualities of each one. The list may not be as long, but there are still plenty of fun things to do when it’s rainy and 38 degrees outside, like rent a movie or hurl yourself off a bridge. Nevertheless, it was nice to know the sun would eventually come out again.

So if you live east of Las Vegas and north of Cuba, and have renewed your driver’s license at least once since the last time the sun came out, don’t lose hope. You may not have seen it this past weekend, but it’s out there. Just don’t blink. I’d hate for you to miss it.