20 Days 'til Pitchers and Catchers

If you're a baseball fan, you understand. The World Series ended in October, and since then, baseball has taken a back seat to football, hockey, and basketball (and some will argue tennis and golf). It's a very trying time. Sure, we have the holidays to occupy ourselves, but they’re over. Now comes the long, dark, grey, cold, snowy, blowing, shoveling, scraping months of winter. We go about our daily lives, but it's not easy or fun. (Obviously, I'm not a skier or skater. I see no reason to get cold when I don't have to.)

We get through it because we know the smack of the ball into a mitt, the crack of a bat is coming. The mounds are being prepared, and the grass will be artistically mown. Spring training is just around the corner. Yes, we’ve been dismayed recently by the cheating scandals – the poor Dodgers on the receiving end of it twice! That’s not the game we love. And yet, we can also chuckle when the Yankees announce a “trash-can” fan giveaway day at their next meeting with the Astros. For Yankees fans, there was also the announcement of Derek Jeter's election to the Hall of Fame (we’d better not find out who that lone voter was that kept it from being unanimous!)

We’ve passed the winter solstice. Sunsets have now moved past 5 p.m. We’re just about through January, and February is a short month. Plans are being made for spring break in March when we can leave the puffy coats in the car at the airport and pack the shorts and flipflops as we head to warmer climes – if only for a week.

For now, we’ll trudge through the snow and slush in our UGG’s, refill the windshield washer fluid in an effort to stay ahead of the spray from traffic, and hold onto our hats when the wind gusts fight to set them free. We’ll make soup and chili. We’ll cozy up with books or put puzzles together. I’m working on another afghan – it keeps me occupied and warm at the same time.  We'll watch for signs of spring. The first robin, cardinal, or blue jay. The snow melting as quickly as it came down. Area nurseries reopening with plants for sale that have been growing all winter in the greenhouse. Spring is coming.

Until then, we’ll keep marking the days off on the calendar.  Twenty days ‘til pitchers and catchers.

Photo from the YES Channel Facebook page