Five States of Winter Grief in Yakima

The first sign of snow brings so many joyous memories. You think of how fun it'll be to go sledding or how much fun it'll be to build snowmen or have a classic snowball fight. The cold air and snow starts with an overwhelming feeling of joy.

Once the snow melts a bit and you start getting ice on the road and walkways, you wonder how you've ever lived in these conditions before. Why are you still here when it happened last year, too? How did it seem everyone else forgot how to drive in these conditions. Confusion will cloud Yakima in a serious way.

It's about this time you start getting mad at everything. Mad you can't just walk to your car without watching your step. Mad you have to scrape your windshield and sit in a cold car. Mad at the city of Yakima for not plowing your street. It's inevitable that you will get angry.

Finally when you come to terms that none of this is your fault or anyone else's, you make-do with what you've got. Find an icy patch that you avoided and slide on it for a while. Take some snow and make snow cones out of them. Eh, why not take advantage of the situation.

Once you almost get used to these conditions, you'll see the sun actually shine. That's when you decide it's high time to stop wearing a coat and start wearing shorts. Even though it's only 40 degrees, that's still twice as warm as the 20 degree weather we may have had last week. Don't fall for this, but I know I always do.