What Is This White Stuff?

 Spring is 20 days away.  It's been 68 (or 69 depending on when you read this) since the winter solstice.  Between then and yesterday here in Northern NJ, we've had no real snow to speak of.  Yes, we've had flurries.  Maybe we've had more than flurries.  (I'm thinking of that one day when it came down pretty heavily, but never amounted to more than a dusting on the ground that was gone almost as quickly as it arrived.)  We've had a few bitter cold days.  (Who wanted to go out on Christmas Eve when temperatures were in the single digits with real feel being in the negative numbers?)  Mostly the days were above average temperatures.  (There was actually a day where I uncovered one of my patio chairs and sat out for about 20 minutes in the sun; then the clouds came and I was out of there!)  

As much as I like the warmer days; as happy as I was that I didn't have to shovel; I KNEW no snow in December, January and February couldn't be a good thing.  I don't like cold.  I don't like snow.  However, I know it is an important part of the season.  It is to be expected.  I don't want it, but I know that others do and some snow (I'm not talking blizzard) in December, January and February, I can (reluctantly) deal with that.  So this lack of snow had me a bit worried.

What I really don't want is a snowy March.  But what I want and what we may get are two different things.

Today may be the last day of February, but it is the FIRST day of accumulating snow for this winter.  Exactly what I didn't want, but...

Let me be clear, my wants are completely selfish this year.  Any other year if snow fell in March, I would be okay with it.  Not happy, but okay.  After all, snow that falls in March isn't going to last forever.  However, at the end of this week (the first weekend in March) is my son's high school musical.  It is his last high school musical.  I believe he is one of three high school seniors who have been on stage in every musical.  (Amazingly, his freshman year they managed to get the show in a week before Covid closed everything down.  His sophmore year they managed to pull off an original show, a retrospective of Broadway musicals, in May at an outdoor venue where temperatures dipped into the 40s at night!  Finally last year they were able to return to a "regular" musical in the high school auditorium also during the first weekend of March.)  (Aside, although he may be one of only three seniors who have been on stage for all 4 musicals, there are at least 3 more students who have taken part in all of them both on stage or backstage.  These students truly light up the stage, even when they are no on it.)  I know he is the only senior who has been in every single show since the fall of his freshman year.  (I've said it before, but he was so proud when he was cast in "Comedy of Errors" as a freshman; being one of two freshman who were in the cast.)  He has done Shakespeare (twice), a radio play (take that Covid), a zoom one act and co-directed a one-act.  As a mom, I want this last show (although he may direct or be in a one-act play later in the spring, but as of now that is not set in stone) to be the best.  (When I say that I don't just mean for him; I mean for me too because I've been on this ride with him for the past four years too, volunteering for every single show.)  So the last thing I want during show week is SNOW!

While what fell last night/this morning is starting to melt (and by Thursday it's going to be in the 50s), I'm a little worried about Friday when temperatures dip again and more precipation is predicted.  Do I not need to beware the ides of March, but the snows of March?  I don't want to be dreaming of a white Easter!  (Snow would not be unheard of in early April.  Not usual, but...And I'll never forget the brief snowfall we had in MAY of 2020.)

Of course my whining about all of this does no good.  So I'll just shut up, grab a shovel, so some cleaning up and keep my fingers crossed for the rest of the week.  (And March?)

Yes, those are my snow covered flamingos