Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Dear January

Dear January,

Oh, how I detest you. You’re a month that has nothing to offer. No jingle bells, no good will towards men, and resolutions that don’t last. The holidays are over now and I am left with an empty feeling and an empty bank account. Because of you the gas bill has never been higher. January, you weigh me down. Physically, I feel the added winter pounds pulling on my bones making me so sluggish. Emotionally, I feel a heaviness in my heart. Your days are short and bleak. Your darkness seems to consume me. You bring biting cold and salt covered sidewalks. The bottoms of my pants drag along dirty, slushy paths, leaving my ankles cold and wet all day. Barren tree branches tremble in the whipping wind like they’re shivering, just as I do while waiting at the bus stop. January, I think you’re out to get me. Remember 2 years ago when you hurled me down the side of the mountain? I thought for sure that my snowboard, my skull or both had busted in half. And how can I forget the exceptionally harsh way you treated me last year….practically keeping me hostage in my own bed while I lay there continually sick and emotionally exhausted. Every year you come around I pray for some way to remove you from the calendar. I long for green grass, sno-cones and sprinklers, water parks and sandals. So January, I’m begging you, just this once, to silently disappear and let spring make its way here.

Affectionately yours,

Jamie

2 comments:

Tracy said...

Reading about how you almost broke your skull snowboarding doesn't make me want to go with you.

I'm sorry January sucks so much for you. You're halfway done with it!

Anonymous said...

my ode to january trembles on my lips.
She stings and cracks my tender fingertips.
My skin is dry, my hair is limp, the chapstick coats my drying lip.

While outdoors the air is chill, the world around me crisp and still.
The tiny birds high in the trees beg from passerbys- some seed -

Yet magic in the cold is found!
The icicles long melting down
make patterns all along the roof-
just as the deer by tiny hoof.
The mountains never look as grand as when the snow frosts coat the land.

The calmness beckons, snowflakes fall. I know that underneath it all the world is waiting, silent, calm with patience which surpasses all. And while I sit by fireside's hearth and sip a rich and warming drink, new life is waiting, gaining strength. For in the spring, while snow still lingers, we'll have new color at our fingers. The sun will warm, the flowers bloom, Days will lengthen, birds sing in tune. Then we will smile and you will see January is just a memory.