Old Man Winter Is A Crotchety Fella

         When I picture Old Man Winter I picture an old dude sitting on his front porch, blistering winds and mountains of snow surrounding him. Completely immune to the cold, he rocks back and forth, watery eyes narrowing at the sight of Spring across the street (the four seasons live in Cul-De-Sac, and each section of land is completely untouched by the one next to it) and the crowd of children in shorts sitting in a circle on freshly mowed grass while they weave daisy chains.

          He was certainly crotchety today, with this crazy wind and snow that buried most of us in our homes and forced some out to shovel sidewalks or driveways throughout the day. I wasn't one of those people, thankfully, and spent my day blissfully cuddled beneath warm blankets with my cat while we watched episodes of The Waltons on cable and triumphed over the final boss of Kirby's Adventure on classic Nintendo.

      The Northeast was hit pretty hard, and while it wasn't quite as difficult as most of us anticipated or the weatherpeople made it out to be...it was still pretty treacherous. That brings me to something I want to say every time there's a snowstorm, and that I've only ever seen one person on Facebook ever actually come out and say themselves.

       Yes, we here in the Northeast are accustomed to snow. We're more than familiar with shoveling driveways and clearing off our cars. Driving in snow? Yup- we've all white-knuckled it down the highway in less-than-desirable visibility, and lived to tell the tale. But what quite a few people seem to forget these days is this: just because you can do it doesn't mean you should. I'm absolutely sick to death of people commenting on weather posts with 'Well, you live in Maine/Siberia/Alaska/Hell, so you should just suck it up.'. It doesn't matter where you live- weather is weather. If I lived somewhere that was constantly plagued by tornadoes...that doesn't mean I should just throw up my arms and have a picnic every time the weather gets tough. What people tend to forget is that nature is unpredictable, and if it's snowing...there's nothing to stop you from going off the road when the ice is hidden by snow, and just because you might be super cautious it doesn't mean that someone else won't crash into you.

       No matter where you live- being brazen about it doesn't make the situation better. Going out into the world with your chest puffed out and muttering about how you 'have four-wheel-drive and snow tires' doesn't mean it's any more safe. You may be able to make it wherever you're going, but that in no way means you have to call other people cowards for not wanting to do the same. And trust me, those of us who live in states that experience the change in seasons may really, really want to go somewhere else. Telling us to do so doesn't make it any more affordable, and we have every right to say we don't feel safe in inclement weather.

     Safety isn't something that should be tossed aside just to show how 'brave' you think you are.