Finally February
I don't know about you, but January is usually a pretty long month. It follows another long month, National Holiday Month. One can argue when it starts and stops, but basically it starts a Veteran’s Day, 11 Nov, and runs through King’s Day, the start of Carnival Season, 6 Jan. There's the "lounging in your pajamas" hangover of not working hard during National Holiday Month; the financial hangover from paying for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and family visits; and the weather hangover when it's so cold and/or snowy you don't even feel like going outside for more firewood to burn—you do it, but you don't feel like it.
Maybe it started early for me. Growing up, my Dad was a schoolteacher, and the way I recall it (because it wasn’t like he asked me for financial help) he got paid once a month. My guess is that it was the last working day of the month because in December that day always came a little earlier than in other months. This made for a long stretch until the January payday.
For several years in a row, we had a family member pass away just in time for the holidays. As I am proud to say, I am a fifth-generation Biloxi Boy. Dad was the middle of seven. Mom was the middle of six—it’s a thing, I can explain and you’ll agree, just take my word for it. Most of my aunts and uncles were in and around Biloxi. I knew at least four of my great-grandparents and gobs of great aunts, uncles, second cousins, third cousins, and even a few removed relatives. I used to joke that we were related to half of the town and some family member knew all the rest. So not to be glib, but there were a lot of relatives that could pass away. I just never quite understood why they did it near the end of the year. One great-grandmother passed on Christmas Eve. Another great-grandmother passed on the same day one year before my grandmother on the opposite side of the family.
The relief of having made it past the gauntlet that was the end of the year became a little easier as the years passed, but the first of February always came with a sigh of relief. I think all that ended in 1992 when it also became a day of joyous remembrance. My better-three-fourths and I tied the knot, and the world became a better place.
Flashing forward a few decades, we again had a coincidental set of loved ones passing away around the start of February. Now I find myself introspective and lost in thought. About years past, relatives lost, and the changes that come with getting older. Maybe it’s cautious to wait until mid-month to celebrate the coming of February; maybe it’s habit. Either way, it’s here and we’re in it. Another new year, and a trip around the sun.
