Weaning Off Winter

It’s time for huffing and puffing again. Time to shed the extra blankets, to bare muscle-tightened skin to the morning breeze. It’s that time when the mirror reveals what winter clothing discreetly hid in stylish confidence.
While the drabness of winter skies diverted minds into the blandness of faded colors, loose potato chips lodged themselves between softened sofa crevices and soda stains painted decorative patterns that identify comfortable gathering spots. Warm fires attracted chilled legs and arms like moths and they fluttered in the enjoyment of comforting goulashes and lavished in the richness of heavy cream sauce paradise. Layers of insulated enlargement thickened girth and relaxation rose in priority from the end-of-day ritual to the all-day routine. Lethargy reined as good intensions wrestled inactivity for the rights to hold the remote; and todos became nobody-dids and sleepiness guided the order of the day.
But now’s the time for huffing and puffing and gasping for air through pollen-filled dormant lungs. It’s the time for deep breaths and water bottles and the bobbing heads of runners whose unstrained faces intimidate the winter recluse, fresh out of hibernation. It’s the stretching of atrophied pectorals and the cramping of sedentary quads. It’s long lines for treadmills and bloated bodies in bulging spandex and it’s largely embarrassing and painfully necessary. But now’s the time for weaning off winter comforts. It’s the ideal time for huffing and puffing while the warmth of the sun beckons the re-energized body and its bright light shields the eyes from exposing the laughing children being entertained.