Half way through

Tomorrow, February 2, is Groundhog Day. Aside from being the title of a surprisingly good movie, it also marks an important, often ignored milestone. February 2 is the mid-point between the Winter Solstice and the Vernal Equinox. In other words, it means we are half-way through winter. By the calendar, for whatever that’s worth, we’re halfway to spring!

When I lived in the woods in New Hampshire, for a number of years the folks in our somewhat-intentional neighborhood would have a pot-luck on Groundhog Day - to be together, to fight off some of winter’s isolation, and to ask the critical question: do you have half your firewood left? Some folks did - the longer you’d lived there, the greater the likelihood.

I enjoy noticing this minor milestone and it can serve as a metaphor for the “winter” we face nationally.  We are making our way through this season, of both sorts, and the turning points are becoming more noticeable: the days are longer, more people are marching.  It helps me to know that we’ve made it this far, even through February weather can be wicked. Its tone may be tempered by other winds of change.