Winter is taking us on a wild ride

This weather is giving me the equivalent of whiplash. There should be a word to describe erratic weather that blesses us with a balmy 50 degree day that is followed by one or two in the single digits.
One day we are grateful that the truck in front of us that hit a patch of ice and slid out of control didn’t hit us. The next day we are looking for a lighter jacket to wear.
It has been said that the wild temperature swings are caused by climate change. Maybe that is true, but it feels more like we are caught in a tug-of-war between weather gods. One wants it warm and the other prefers it to be frigid. Occasionally one or the other will lose their grip and the other will triumph for a day or two only to be ambushed by the loser.
Do any of you remember Captain Kangaroo and Crabby Appleseed? Crabby was always inventing a weather machine that would cause hail, rain or snow to fall out of season on the foe of the day. Maybe it wasn’t just a children’s cartoon, after all. Maybe that could be the real purpose of all those drones we keep hearing about. Sometimes I wonder about things like this and think the weird weather has addled my brain.
Things aren’t much better inside the house. We keep it chilly enough to require an extra layer of clothes but when I pass by the newly opened paperwhites, their delicious scent screams, “Spring!” The fresh green leaves hint at warmer weather as the cheery blossoms promise the cold won’t last.
The amaryllis in the bathroom is starting to stretch upwards. That tells me it really is winter and the worst weather is yet to come. In a week or so it will begin unfurling its petals. I am looking forward to seeing if the color matches the one on the box.
Once the paperwhites have finished confusing me it will be time to start taking the hyacinths out of the refrigerator so they, too, can scream, “Spring!” whenever I pass by.
There is a natural progression to the seasons and our memories are unreliable. We remember that in winter the temperature drops and stays cold. In summer it is hot. Spring and fall are transition months which boast varying temperatures and conditions. In reality, nothing is constant. Some years are relatively warm with a few cold days tossed in. Others are just the opposite.
There is an old saying that goes something like, “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody can do anything about it.” The extremes we have been having lately make me wonder if that is true, even though I know it is.
The workings of the earth and all her processes are beyond our ability to control. I am eternally grateful for that. I would love for it to be warm enough to be comfortable in shorts all year round. But if it was, the flowers I love, tulips, lilacs and the like, would not be able to put on their annual displays as they need a cold spell to bloom properly.
Since the weather will do whatever it is destined to do, the best we can do is learn to accept it. We can be prepared as best we can by gathering extra supplies for inclement weather and going outside and enjoying the warmer days. We can bring a little spring into our lives with flowers we have forced to bloom out of season or a bouquet bought at the store.
For now, I will enjoy this wild ride we are calling winter in Indiana and remind myself that it won’t last forever even though it is giving me whiplash.