I have been doing a lot of whining lately to friends and family. I am sure I am not alone though.
It has been a hard winter. The extreme cold and dumps of snow never seem to end. I’ve been a grouch.
I have a good friend who has spent the last three months in Mexico, and he and his lovely wife continue to post photos on Facebook of the great time they are having. Great for him, but the non-stop posts of sunny beach photos have been too much. Smugness prevails. I have threatened to others I will no longer engage him until he returns to Innisfail in May.
The truth is I was going to Mexico in January but found out at the travel agent stage my passport had expired. So it goes, and cold and snow was my lot in life, seemingly forever and forever.
But last weekend Easter in Calgary saved me. It saved me from myself. Before I headed out I went to a friend’s place to pick up a few things for a special Easter gift for Dandy Andy, my four-month-old grandson. It’s challenging. It’s not right to load up a gift bag with a ton of Easter bunny chocolate for a four-month-old baby. But my pal’s wife is a crafts expert. Cuteness prevailed with her offerings.
Thankfully the snowstorm we experienced late last week was all over, and the roads were just fine to Calgary, although it was nippy. I arrived grumpy – an Easter Grinch.
My daughter thought so. But in I went. I demanded food. I was told supper would be later than originally told. I was then grumpier still.
But in I went. I did the obligatory greetings. Everyone was nice. The kid brought me a snack. I forced a half-hearted smile.
She then sat beside me and whispered in my ear, “What do you think about putting on The Who onesie you gave Andy for Christmas. It should finally fit,” she said.
And then it happened. The Easter Grinch smiled for real. Dandy Andy soon appeared looking suitably just right, attired in his special Who onesie. I closed my eyes for a second and imagined him doing Peter Townshend windmill power chords, leaping on stage and ready to smash a guitar.
I opened my eyes and Dandy Andy smiled. I then sang him the time-honoured classic My Generation. I smiled. The kid is all right.
And best yet I was saved. The horrible winter was miraculously long gone. There was a new generation in front of me with plenty of springs ahead. The cold won’t matter one bit.
Johnnie Bachusky is the editor of the Innisfail Province.
