Let it snow

It's a dangerous thing to yearn for snow in Wisconsin at this time of year.

We live with the stuff for at least a third to half of the time in most typical winters. Snow is cold and wet and heavy and slippery, and it makes life a lot more complicated. Snow slows us down -- we've got to shovel before we eat our breakfasts and scrape it off our windshields before we drive to work. It speeds us up in the most alarming of ways -- such as when we careen through intersections with our anti-lock brakes chattering. Or when we slide down our front steps, heels above head.

So for most of us, looking at a bare back yard with frosty green grass at the end of December would be a fine sight indeed. And it would have been for me, too, before I changed my attitude about snow.

I was at a low point deep in February when it came, shoveling the concrete-like snowbank left at the end of my driveway by a city plow. The wind was blowing hard, seeping down the back of me neck and settling in my spine. Snow pellets were hitting me in the face. But then I started thinking about what I was doing. I was breathing hard, lifting stuff, moving stuff. It really was a workout.

That's when I decided that snow would be my personal trainer, and that I would try to embrace it all because what it really did for me. It forced me outdoors during the dark days. It can be fun when you strap on the cross country skis swoosh along trails.

I'm about to go for a bike ride, and that will be fine. But I'd rather be gliding through the woods, truth be told. And although I'm OK with not shoveling or sliding through intersections, I'm also missing out on the strength training that is a natural part of winter.

So I guess I'm wishing for some snow right now. Just don't tell anybody.