Hope

I stepped down out of my vehicle and stood beside it for a few seconds to test the air temperature. Driving with the windows rolled up on a sunny day will often give you a false sense of how warm it actually is, and I’m cold natured anyway. After a few moments of indecision I reach back inside the vehicle and grab my jacket; it’s one of those days that could go either way, but I would rather lug around a kerosene space heater than be cold!

The parking lot is full of vacationers with the same idea; it may be too cool for the beach, but it’s just right for (never thought I’d say this; man card alert) putt-putt. A gust of cool wind hits me and I silently pat myself on the back for bringing my jacket. We head to the kiosk to pay for our game and I notice that most of the 18 holes are bathed in sunshine; maybe this won’t be so bad.

The crowded course is speckled with players in varying levels of dress, and as luck would have it we end up behind a family with two loud teenage girls. Two starlets wearing short-shorts, tank tops and sunglasses that send and receive texts after every shot! If I didn’t think I would be arrested I would walk over to one of them and warm my hands! Not really, but I know they have to be cold.

I will say that as I look around the course it is not necessarily young people that are under-dressed. I see a few guys my age in shorts and tee shirts, but they do seem to be playing the game rather quickly. A couple of them are probably being warmed by the beer furnace that stretches the tee shirt beyond the manufacturer’s limits, and while I am not completely without fault in that zone, my extra poundage doesn’t seem to be warming me at all! Honestly some may have simply forgotten their jackets, but why would anyone choose to be uncomfortable?

I think it just how we have been trained. We plan ahead and anticipate; we look over the shoulder of winter and wink at the pool chemicals. Last minute Halloween shoppers must wade through Christmas decorations and the best selection of coats are available in September. We stand rooted in the middle of one season and pine for the next. We assume that we will be here to enjoy the coming season as we have in the years before.

As I sat down to write this, my initial thoughts were that we spend our lives forcing the seasons. But perhaps this is not the case. Maybe it is just that emotion that keeps us going; the desire to get out of bed each morning and the will to live another day; another season. Its called Hope.