Foreshadowings

So Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today. That supposedly means six more weeks of winter. That's about how much winter we have left, at least officially, anyway. So how did Phil get the gig he has?

On the other hand, Staten Island Chuck didn't see his shadow. According to legend, that means we'll have an early spring.

So, which one do you believe? How much difference is there betwween Phil and Chuck? Well, maybe Chuck wears a couple more gold chains and a bunch of other gold jewelery. How else could he fit in on Staten Island?

In addition to being Groundhog Day, it's the birthday of one of my brothers and two of my exes. In fact, I started dating Vira just a few months after I split with Eva.

There is one other "anniversary" on this date to me. Eight years ago on this date, Tammy and I got into a fight over my "cross-dressing" and the fact that I was working with an organization that sometimes demonstrated in Albany and Washington. She thought it would hurt her chances for promotions, and possibly even cost her job.

One day six months earlier, I gave her the hug that was the single most desperate action I ever took. I wasn't so much embracing her or anybody or anything else as I was holding on to a life that was beginning to slip away from me, and would soon fall.

If only Phil or Chuck had seen their shadows then.

Oh well. If I'm talking about rodents that can't get their stories straight, it's really time for me to go to bed.