Take That, Winter.

I cannot believe it. It is April 16. The first day if spring showed up on my calendar almost a month ago. And slush is literally falling from the sky. When I walked into school this morning, my hair was soaking wet. Freezing cold water was rolling off my head and into my coat collar. I went to take a sip of my hot coffee, but rain had pooled into the top of the lid and I got a mouth-full of that instead. My new shoes squeaked all the way down the hall.

I stopped looking out the window halfway through the day. I couldn't stand the grey sky and the rivulets of water coursing down the glass anymore. And the tulips, bent under the weight of ice-cold sleet. Poor tulips. It was depressing. They weren't even as yellow as they should have been.

So I walk out of school and it's just as bad, maybe worse. I have the collar on my bomber jacket zipped up to my ears, past my nose. My hands are crammed deep into my pockets. And it is cold. The wind is driving little bullets of slush against my head, and I can feel the frigidness drilling into my brain.

All the way through the parking lot Mel and I are mumbling about how miserable everything is. "This is unbelievable," and "I've never seen weather this bad in my life," and "Spring break! Yesterday was spring break!" Then Mel says "Arugh! My feet are getting all wet!" And I said, "Well, if they're gonna get wet then dangit, they're gonna get wet." And I ran to the deepest puddle I could find and jumped in it. And I kicked water in a shining arc across the pavement. I stomped and I jumped until my new sneakers were dripping and my jeans were soaked to the knees, laughing insanely the whole time.

The sleet was still drilling into my skull. The water was painfully cold and my toes were kind of tingling. Mel was yelling at me, and I knew I was crazy. But it is April, and if winter thinks it can keep me all mumbling and huddled up and miserable, ha! It's got another thing coming.