The Season's Excitement? Gone. Fled North


                January 2, 2013 rolled in like a flat tire. It led a caravan of days that thud and thump along, towing winter’s drab days.

                Gone is the excitement and suspense of Christmas.

 Gone is the lesser excitement of watching the ball fall in New York’s Times Square.

                Calls from the kids and grandkids about what to bring to the parties—stop.

                Lights that brightened and dazzled the neighborhood— switched off, unplugged.

                The wreathes, tree balls, little statues of Santa, elves,  galloping reindeer, and so much more  had been placed accompanied by carols, hymns, and season songs. They’re put away tunelessly.

                November and December’s excitement—all gone.

 Where to?

       At the university in a grand city by a Great Lake, events replaced the vanished excitement.  You moved immersed in the whirr of cheery  undergrads pounding up and down stairs, flopping into classroom seats, shoving into the arena’s student-section, screaming, “Shoot, shoot, shoot!…Defense, defense, defense!” 

                Would the Golden Eagles make the Big Dance? Oh my god! They will. They will!

 Fresh excitement. Rising hopes.

                In the grand city by the Great Lake, white flakes filter down and mound. Out the skis would come. Friends soon would glide along winding trails though evergreen forests.

                In the grand city by the Great Lake, excitement thrived in bright wintry days. And Nature added her own decorations.

                In a small city by a little lake near the World’s capital, Nature provides a less spectacular show.

                How long ‘till spring?

                                                                                                                                                ---Gus Gribbin

 

 

 

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