Weather often changes plans, regardless of the page on the calendar. In the spring, a picnic might be ruined by a sudden shower. Unbearable heat can force cancellation of outdoor plans in the summer.
This month, with Valentine’s Day falling on a Sunday, plans to send flowers to loved ones were affected by recent snowstorms and accompanying icy roads. Earlier that week, some businesses were closed and some florists likely were forced to call off deliveries. In my case, a delivery to my bride at the doctors’ office where she works scheduled for Friday, Feb. 12, had to have a backup plan for a home delivery either that day or Saturday, Feb. 13, because the forecast for more snow made the possibility real that the office would be closed. We don’t think much about the weather until it affects us personally.
Meanwhile, my family celebrates our second annual February Festival, with a gathering of our son, two daughters, one girlfriend, at least one boyfriend and possibly the other at my son’s house in Fort Worth. It also serves as a celebration of my birthday later this week and daughter Molly’s birthday in mid-March. We also throw in Valentine’s Day and a supper with two friends who also are former copy editors at the Star-Telegram in Fort Worth.
Our little festival was born in 2009 when we had to postpone a Christmas trip to Texas because of illness. What we discovered when we moved our Christmas celebration to February last year was the actual date of our family get-together didn’t matter. Yes, we exchange gifts, but the fact that we still were able to gather and enjoy each other was what seemed to matter the most.
So remember, our time with loved ones is fleeting. And have a very Frosty February Festival!
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Can you get rusty at writing a blog?
Has the process existed long enough for rust to form? Still, it has been more than a week, so I should deposit butt in chair and write, as an old English teacher used to tell me.
Between the unseasonably cold weather, the sickening slaying of Salvation Army Maj. Philip Wise on Christmas Eve and the apparent sudden death of former state Rep. Sharon Dobbins on Wednesday, it has been tough getting into the spirit of 2010.
(By the way, I think I’ll go with the pronunciation as “twenty-ten,” rather than “two-thousand-ten,” because it’s shorter and … let’s face it, we’re all going to be saying either “twenty-whatever” or “two thousand-whatever” for the rest of our lives.)
A few items to close out 2009:
- My favorite Christmas-related moment in the spiritual sense was the beautiful job of singing by the children (consisting of three youngsters) of First Presbyterian Church of North Little Rock at the Christmas Eve candlelight service Dec. 24.
- Favorite Christmas album discovered this year was the one by Chris Isaak (released in 2004). It has a lot of steel guitar and clever rephrasing of some traditional lyrics that gave it a Hawaiian feel and made offering seem light and enjoyable.
- Funniest moment (in retrospect) was my two brothers and I sitting at Mom’s dining room table playing dueling smartphones, all of a different make and model, as two of us compared a new iPhone and Droid received as Christmas gifts while the other brother showed why he was sticking with his Blackberry.
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