Finally Sleeping with the Windows Open

We've been able to sleep with the window open for the past couple of weeks. No snow, no sleet, no ice. No danger of waking up shivering in freezing temperatures and arguing about who should get up to shut the window. Just the song of birds in the morning and the rush of traffic outside.

This has been a too long winter that began sometime in November and didn't really break until two weeks ago: five and a half months of closed windows, of turning inward. At first, you don't notice it. When windows are first closed and latched, Thanksgiving and Christmas keep our attention on family and friends. We look past the browns and grays of dead things in the yard, and the subdued sun that barely clears the treetops of the horizon. 

January and February snows whitewash the sins of the past year and promise a new beginning to the next. The landscape sleeps quietly under a down of crystal that sparkles in the day and glows from moon light during long black winter nights. We try to work with the weather and keep busy with winter sports and the adventure of snow-days. But, that novelty wears thin by the end of February. March usually is the turning point from winter to spring, reducing snow banks to gray memories. But not this year. More snow, sleet and ice (unusual for the Northeast Wisconsin traveler), and low temperatures kept the windows shut 30 to 45 days longer than usual. Our 75-inches of snow is nowhere near a record, but the late and consistent buildup was unnerving.

Everyone seemed tired in April this year, exhausted by the daily battle with winter that overstayed its welcome. For both staff and students at the college, our main topic was the weather as we looked up at low blue-gray snow clouds, checked the weather app, and calculated another difficult commute. Wisconsinites are a tough bunch, but the relentlessness of winter had worn us down.

The last week in April, with temperatures finally in the 50s and 60s, our collective mood seemed to lighten. Windows opened and short-sleeves rather than parkas were the clothing of choice. Pickup basketball was played in the driveway again, skateboards kicked down the street, lawn furniture brushed off and polished up, and the smoke from grills wafted over the neighborhood. The NFL draft reminded us of summer training camp. Runners, training for the May marathon, worried less about black ice under the snow and more on their split times. I even heard the neighborhood 50-something rock band practicing with the garage door open once again.

The arrival of spring brings new energy to everyone. It's good to have the windows unlatched and open once again. It's good to have the outside world back in our lives.