This one’s for all my poor, cold readers here in southern Manitoba. I have something to say in response to all of the complaints I’ve heard about snow and winter and ice and cold:
It is almost spring!!!
For real. Go look at your calendar if you don’t believe me. I know it feels as though this will never end, but we have never, EVER had snow last all through summer. It’s true.
So although I can’t say when spring is coming, I can say with utmost certainty that it IS coming, and you ARE going to make it.
And here are a few things to encourage you in the meantime:
1) You live here for a reason.
As much as you might ask yourself, “WHY would anyone choose to live here in this horrible land of almost perpetual winter???!”, the fact of the matter is that you DO live here. You HAVEN’T moved.
Why not?
Family? Friends? This is just home for you? You like your job? Moving is hard and huge and not actually something you want to do?
Ben and I seriously considered moving away a few years ago, and thank God, He prevented us from doing it. I’ve never complained about Manitoba since, because as we actually began to look at what life might be like somewhere else, I realized that I don’t actually want to be far away from the people I love.
When winter drags on, and balmy temperatures start to look pretty good, I make myself remember why we CHOOSE to live here. Nobody’s forcing us to. So I have no reason to complain.
2) Summer is going to feel sooooo good.
I truly believe we appreciate summer more than people who have warm temperatures all year round. That is just how hardship works. It makes you appreciate things more. When summer finally arrives, we will most definitely know how good we’ve got it, because we’re reminded every single year.
3) Snow is prettier when you’re smiling.:)
There is a ton of snow outside whether we are happy about it or not! I see two choices here: I can complain about the cold to every person I meet, which will make me and them feel negative about it, OR I can choose to be positive. And if there’s nothing positive to say about the weather, then maybe I just won’t talk about the weather!
4) Let’s be realistic.
Everyone living in Manitoba KNOWS there will be snow for all of February. Most likely, for all of March as well. Yet everyone seemed to be super surprised about how much snow we’ve gotten recently. Expect snow for now, keep smiling, and look at your calendar regularly. Better things are just around the corner!! But don’t be surprised if there’s a snowstorm in March. It’s Manitoba. And you’re here for a reason! See #1.
5) Things can only get better.
This is apparently the coldest winter we’ve had in 50 years, or something like that. Chances are pretty good that next winter will be better. And maybe… we’ll have the BEST summer we’ve had in 50 years! Who knows! Let’s hope for the best. As the saying goes, “When you’re lying flat on your back, the only direction to look is up.” We are moving on to bigger and better things, everybody.
See this?
That was me last April. That will be me again this April. I will frolic in the mud and puddles, and there will be much joy and gladness in my heart.
It’s coming, people. Just hang in there a little bit longer…
Ordinary Days 
You are a blessing! This post was beautiful and inspiring and encouraging. And these are things I have been trying to think about as well. I have bitten my tongue and refrained from complaining about the weather and I think I have done well with that. A comment or two may have slipped out from time to time, but for the most part I have tried to focus on the positive. Oh sweet, sweet spring, how wonderful you will be WHEN you come (not IF…but WHEN!). Thanks Kendra. This was a perfect read for me today!
I’m glad it hit the spot, Andrea!:)And you are right – it is WHEN and not if!
I don’t think you will find me complaining until the middle of March rolls around and we are still at -30. See, 11 years ago when Payton was born on March 14, it turned spring that day. I remember taking him out as a new newborn and walking with him on the street in my front carrier and it was melting! So, I eagerly anticipate his birthday each year because I know it will be warm. Maybe not that day, maybe the next week, but every year, for the past 11 years, it has started melting within days of March 14. So I wait with eager anticipation and not a word of complaint. And, yes, we love to be here because of friends and family and cannot imagine being in a warmer place because of that. We have friends that just moved to Fiji, the warmest of the warm, and they are buckling down to ride out a hurricane, suffering in 40+ temps with no electricity. All in perspective, hey? 🙂
I love it that you have a season memory linked with your first baby! We brought Anika home from the hospital just as the first snowflakes were starting to fall at the end of October, 11 years ago! I rocked her for hours while I listened to the geese honking! Payton’s birthday means it’s spring, and Anika’s means it’s fall!
And my word, hurricanes and no electricity does put things in perspective!!!
I think the fear is that spring will ACTUALLY never come! Of course it will, and in our heads we all know this, but since none of us have lived through a colder Winter, I think the fear that things could just get worse and worse (since they have all Winter), is there. I understand all the complaining. I at times participate in it, with a chuckle, and usually end with…”Summer is going to feel so great!” However, I suppose the summer shoes I bought on the weekend are proof that I, personally have not lost all hope! Thanks for being such an optimist, Kendra! I love it!
I love it that you bought summer shoes already, Juls! Whatever we need to do to remind ourselves that summer IS coming!!
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