Bloomington-Normal, as a midwestern state, is expected to experience all the seasons. Leaves falling in autumn, snow falling in the winter, sun shining in the summer and flowers blooming in spring. That’s what supposed to happen, spring just hasn’t gotten the memo yet.

The first day of spring in 2018 was March 20th, yet it somehow hasn’t found its way to our twin cities. When you think of spring, it’s all flowers, warmer weather, and animals waking up from hibernation.

Due the extended winter months, it’s almost like we’ve gone into our own hibernation.  The sun went down earlier and so did our heads. Winter coats, snow boots, and overall tiredness became a part of our everyday lives.

Anytime we attempted to leave the house, we were blasted with the frigid winds from December through February. Not only was the air frozen it also dry causing lips to became chapped while our cheeks to became red.

Now that March has finally come around, the hopes of spring have made the winter months almost bearable, almost. The promise of the sun to thaw out our bodies and the brightly colored flowers to brighten our moods make spring the ideal hope we needed to keep going.

The spring should bring warmer weather; It makes leaving the house possible again and bulky coats no longer needed we told ourselves. In general, everything will and should be better in spring.

On the morning of March 20th, when spring (according to the calendar) came, it’s apparent outside that it really hasn’t. The trees are still bare and the sun is still blocked by clouds. Outside it’s still cold and a coat is definitely still needed.

Instead of bringing colors out, yards are filled with partly frozen and partly dead grass. The trees are bare and there are no flowers to be seen. The weather has seen very little change since winter. It was only a high of 40 degrees for the first day of spring and for the week, only a high of 50. In recent forecasts, snow is predicted.

It’s still cold, still bland and definitely not a large enough change from winter to make anyone happy. Although it’s not snowing, this year’s spring has missed its mark and needs to do some catching up to please us midwesterners in Bloomington-Normal. So spring, this is our desperate plea: we need you, we want you and please come soon.