No snow means no cabin fever

Since it’s the middle of February, aka, the longest month of winter, I thought I’d write about snow. I realize I write about snow all the time, but this winter I haven’t had a lot to complain about.

This may be the first winter that I’ve been more happy than SAD. That’s seasonal affective disorder, my unofficial, self-diagnosis of the depressive cabin fever I suffer every year.

This year has been different because it’s been so warm, but it’s also been the same in some ways. Even though the weather has been pretty good, it’s still dark early and I find that I still am unmotivated to leave my house after the sun sets. Is it hibernation? Or that cyclical SAD in its milder form?

Every winter I am a recluse of sorts, or maybe comparable to a squirrel holed up in a tree, surrounded by a lot of acorns but not much else going on. I don’t like driving in snow, and the older I get, the less I like it.

So, when a job came along this fall, that allowed me to work at home, I jumped at it. With both feet. I couldn’t wait until I was trained and fully operational out of my house. Never would I have to drive in a blizzard, sideways on ice, with 5-inches of visibility out of a tiny defrosted spot on my frozen over windshield again.

I waited in anticipation for that first travel advisory where I could sit warm and cozy, with a hot cup of coffee, and go to work in my very own house.

So, it didn’t snow very much this year. But that’s okay. Winter isn’t over yet. Sometimes February and March are worse that January, as far as blizzards are concerned. I will get that chance to look out the window at the blinding storm and revel in the fact that I no longer have to drive in that stuff.

My job involves talking to people from all over the country. I’m learning that Buffalo has a reputation. Most people who ask me where I’m located will say, “So, how’s the snow?”

Being a life-long Buffalonian, I know that this winter is a fluke. I firmly believe that dealing with Buffalo winters makes us tough. It’s life or death… us versus snow. We have winter “cred.” We also have a reprieve from the white stuff, more or less, compared to our usual 6-foot-high snowbanks.

The only drawback about working from home that I have noticed, is that even though I tend to revel in cabin-fever, being home all the time is a little too much cabin, even for me.

This squirrel is starting to get out and about, willing to go anywhere, do anything, whenever possible, even if that means driving in the snow, in the dark. It’s a little ironic, but so is this winter.