February is the shortest month of the year, and I’m thankful for that. When it has an extra day for Leap Year as it does this year, I am not happy to have those 24 “additional” hours. Why? Because February is my least favorite month. I don’t favor February for several reasons.
Arriving on the heels of January, it’s usually the time that most people abandon any resolutions they made in the New Year and, for those who live in the colder climates, it’s the time winter officially hits with at least one big snowstorm. Maybe those aren’t particularly great reasons for disliking a month, but consider this fact. While February brings love and Valentine to sweethearts, how many people are single and unattached, divorced, widowed, alone? For those people, February can be a cruel and lonely month indeed.
Also, have you noticed that there’s an increase in deaths in winter, most notably in February? Just this year we lost some popular people (this info previously posted by Geoff Herbert | gherbert@syracuse.com):
- Bob Elliott, one half of legendary TV-radio comedy duo Bob and Ray with Ray Goulding, died Feb. 2 at 92.
- Joe Alaskey, a voice actor originally from Troy, N.Y., died from cancer at age 63 on Feb. 4. He was the principal voice of multiple Looney Tunes characters, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester the Cat and Tweety Bird, after Mel Blanc’s death in 1989 and voiced Yosemite Sam in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”
- Maurice White, a founding member of disco-funk group Earth, Wind & Fire, died Feb. 3 at 74.
- Dave Mirra, a Central New York native who rose to fame as a BMX biker at the X-Games, had his own video games and hosted an MTV reality show, died Feb. 4 of an apparent suicide at 41.
- Dan Hicks, who led ’60s band Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks, died Feb. 6 at 74.
- Daniel Gerson, co-writer of “Monsters, Inc.” and “Big Hero 6,” died Feb. 6 of brain cancer at 49.
- Vanity, an ’80s singer-actress and Prince protege also known as Denise Katrina Matthews, died Feb. 15 at 57.
- George Gaynes, who starred on “Punky Brewster” and played Commandant Lassard in all seven “Police Academy” movies, died Feb. 15 at 98.
- Angela “Big Ang” Raiola of “Mob Wives” died at 55 on Feb. 18 after a battle with throat, brain and lung cancer.
- Harper Lee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” died Feb. 19 at age 89.
- Douglas Slocombe, Oscar-nominated cinematographer for three “Indiana Jones” movies, died Feb. 22 at age 103.
- Sonny James, country singer behind hits like “Young Love,” died Feb. 22 at age 87.
- Lennie Baker, the voice of Sha Na Na’s doo-wop hit “Blue Moon,” died Feb. 24 at age 69.
- Tony Burton, who played Apollo Creed’s trainer Duke in six “Rocky” movies, died Feb. 25 at 78.
Wikipedia lists even more February deaths: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_in_2016
Personally, I lost both my father and mother-in-law in February. If you counter this by saying that several presidents were born in February and that many of your friends and relatives were, as well, I’ll say my mom was also born this month and celebrated her 88th birthday just a few weeks ago. I’m thankful for that, but I still don’t give February any more points because it’s a fact more births occur in the summer. Although the statistics in this article aren’t current, it’s likely they haven’t changed much: http://www.livescience.com/32728-baby-month-is-almost-here-.html
What else do I have against February? It’s a peak time for the flu and other viruses to spread. Check out the graph in this info from the CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/season/flu-season.htm
February is also not a pretty month. Although daylight is beginning to last longer and there are occasional spring-like days, the trees are still bare and sometimes the snow that fell in January is still around and turning an ugly black.
I guess I’ll make it through one more February day this year, but I’m ready to move on to March. What about you? Is February also your least favorite month or do you have another? I’d love to hear your comments.
Ruff Drafts 