February is here

Because I am lazy today I decided to share my little piece for our writing group meeting tomorrow. The current challenge is the word February. Here it is.

What makes February any different than any other month? Come with me and we’ll check it out.

By the first week most people should be used to the fact that a new year has begun and will have stopped writing the wrong date on their checks. No doubt those who actually took the time to make new years resolutions in January have already broken them. Hopefully at least some people have paid off their Christmas expenses by now and have moved on to run up other bills.

This year is especially helpful to those born on the 29th. They finally get to celebrate another birthday. This is a special group of people who are not really as old as they appear and it has nothing to do with diet or good genes. It’s kind of like dog years in reverse.

In the middle of the month we have that special day designated for lovers of all ages. It is heavily promoted by Hallmark, FTD florists and chocolate makers world wide. What would we do without a day set aside to tell others that we love them?

February celebrates the birthdays of two men who were elected to lead the United States in good times and bad. George Washington, born on February 22 gets recognition on the 3rd Monday in February whether it is his birthday or not. Abraham Lincoln, used to be recognized on February 12th, which is his actual birthday, but now he sort of shares his day with Washington on President’s Day. It’s probably good that they are both deceased or they wouldn’t know when to eat their birthday cake.

There are two fun events celebrated in the United States in February. The first is super bowl on the 5th, but unless you are a football fan you will most likely not pay much attention. That is unless you live in a house occupied by a fan. Then the yelling and whooping and sometimes swearing will be hard to ignore. The second is Mardi Gras, on the 21st, but unless you live in or plan to visit New Orleans it will most likely go unnoticed in your life.

Our annual Quadrathlon falls on the 18th and will bring athletes from all over the world. Hopefully the snow on Mt. Taylor will stay put for a couple more weeks so that no part of the race will be cancelled this year.

February 22 marks the beginning of lent with Ash Wednesday, but unless you are Catholic it won’t hold much meaning except maybe to wonder why so many people are walking around with dirty foreheads.

Oops I almost forgot Punxsutawney Phil from Pennsylvania. For 126 years a little groundhog has on February 2 been predicting how much more winter we will have. Tomorrow morning if Phil sees his shadow we can expect an early spring or if he does not we are in for another 6 weeks of winter.

That about wraps things up for February- March on.