It would be great if we had 2012 weather instead of 2017 snow

The snow had just started to fall late Sunday afternoon when I opened up Facebook and saw a post from a long-lost friend.“We made it!”Now, you have to understand that years ago Jami Peterson Maifeld was one of those special people in my work life.She worked for me as a part-timer at the Mason City Globe Gazette, and in addition to a wicked sense of humor, Jami was one of those unflappable kids who made our sports department not only survive but also thrive on brutal “game nights” when the phones would be ringing off the hook and we had an hour to take those calls, write up stories and get them on a page.But late Sunday afternoon, I despised Jami, for underneath her three-word post were pictures of her and her two daughters enjoying their first day in Cancun, Mexico.OK, maybe despise is a strong word, and even if it’s the right word, the feeling passed in a few seconds.I quickly snapped a photo of the snow starting and sent her a message: “Wanna trade?”The answer came quickly.“Um ... No. With a capital N.”I awoke at 6 a.m. on Monday morning, bundled up (which was tough because I couldn’t find any gloves), grabbed a shovel and did what the rest of you did. I dug out.Somewhere about halfway down the driveway I thought of Jami and her two girls — enjoying a leisurely spring break in Mexico — and I couldn’t help but laugh.You see, a couple of years ago I went to Florida for a week in early May and all I wanted was to have one day that was clear and 90 in the Sunshine State while it was hovering in the 30s and 40s back here in Iowa.Well, my wish was granted and I fired off some smart-you-know-what social media post directed at Josh and Noah.As I shoveled out the driveway — or at least my part of it — I realized that turnabout was truly fair play.•••••But in all honestly, I’m so done with winter.I have another Facebook friend, a lady named Michelle Murray from Mason City, who loves winter. No, scratch that. She loves snow.She loves it so much that even a mid-March snowstorm gets her excited so I wasn’t surprised to see her post a video last night of her frolicking in the white stuff.I seriously think if it snowed in July, Michelle would be ecstatic.As for me, I like snow at Christmas. Period.As far as I’m concerned, it can snow on Dec. 23 — well, maybe Dec. 22 so that holiday travel isn’t such a challenge — and the temperatures can zoom into the 50s on Dec. 26 and melt it.I realize I live in Iowa, and that just isn’t going to happen. Snow in January, February and even March is pretty much a given.And I’ve lived through snow in April and May, but the older I get, the more crotchety I get about late-season snow.Five years ago, the high temperature on March 13 was 73 and on March 14 it was 81.Man, I wish it was 2012.•••••Truth be told, it hasn’t been all that bad of a winter.Oh, we’ve had above average snowfall, but we haven’t gone through too many deep freezes, and we really haven’t had that whopper of a storm that shuts down schools for days at a time.Still, maybe it’s the advancing age but it feels like it’s been a long weather year.And even the young folks who live in my house believe that.As the snow started falling Sunday, my 16-year-old looked at me with a twinge of sadness.“I want to go to school tomorrow,” Noah said.After I fell off the couch, I collected myself and asked him to repeat himself.“Seriously, this is getting old,” he said. “We’re going to be going to school in June the way this is going.”In reality, New Hampton has missed six days of school this year — two for flooding, three for snowing and one for wrestling — and there have been worse years since we first called New Hampton home back in December 2009.But it just feels like a long year, doesn’t it?Noah certainly thinks so, and so do I.I, though, found some comfort in this latest snowstorm, especially around 8 a.m. on Monday when New Hampton called off classes.I, at least, had a couple of “shovelers” who had plenty of time to spare.But here’s to way more spring and way less winter in the weeks ahead.