When winter finally released its icy grip last week, with temperatures reaching above freezing for the first time in weeks, we had figured the worst of this winter season was behind us.
Needless to say, that was wishful thinking.
As native New Englanders, by no means were we so naive as to believe that Mother Nature would fail to have a few surprises remaining for us.
When March 1 starts to roll along on the calendar, we always are reminded of the proverb we first learned as young children at Our Lady of Grace parochial school in Everett: “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.”
So we were well-aware that nasty weather still lay ahead. We were braced for a lion, but we weren’t expecting a prehistoric beast.
So we were both incredulous and exasperated as we listened to the weatherman’s increasingly-dire predictions for a major weather event headed our way as this weekend approached
We’ve all become familiar with the relatively-recent meteorological term of “bombogenesis” to describe the rapid intensification of a storm system that seems to take on a life of its own.
But we did not anticipate the fury of this week’s blizzard that had such a wide impact and that caused so much misery for so many of us.
We well remember the Blizzard of ‘78, the No Name Storm of 1991 (also known as The Perfect Storm), and the Snowmageddon Winter of 2015.
We took all of those major weather events in stride. As impactful as they were, they were simply annoyances for us at the time. But we were younger then, and youth has a way of brushing aside even the harshest of circumstances — a four-foot drift looks like a playground instead of a back injury waiting to happen.
Despite the frigid temperatures, we still ran outside almost every day throughout this winter, even in the face of daily, single-digit wind chills. We were determined not to let Ol’ Man Winter get the better of us.
But truth be told, this winter season of 2026 has pushed us over the edge. The “lion” finally bit us — and Florida suddenly seems very appealing.
Our brave soldiers once again are defending freedom
Regardless of whether one agrees with the undertaking of an undeclared war with Iran that ignited over the weekend, these hostilities once again have placed the lives of American soldiers at immediate risk on the front line.
However, as our men and women in uniform have done throughout our history, they are answering the call to perform their duty with the utmost skill and bravery.
The news that three of our soldiers died and five more were seriously injured in an Iranian missile attack on a U.S. military base in Kuwait over the weekend brought on a profound sense of sadness to the nation.
Equally heartbreaking are the reports that more than 150 Iranian children were killed when a missile struck their elementary school, a staggering loss of innocent life. Similarly, the news of the deaths of nine Israeli civilians, including three teenage siblings, when a missile landed on their bomb-shelter, has been heart-rending.
Every parent, regardless of nationality, can relate to these tragic events deeply and profoundly.
As for the war itself, no one will be shedding any tears for Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, who perished on Saturday morning when his compound was bombed by Israeli missiles.
The violent demise of Khamanei and many of his generals brings to mind the biblical directive, “As ye sow, so shall ye reap.”
Under Khamanei’s 36-year rule, the Iranian regime not only has murdered, tortured, and imprisoned tens of thousands of its own citizens, but it also has spread its message of hate throughout the world.
Iran has provided arms to terrorist organizations in the Middle East and elsewhere with the directive, “Death to America, Death to Israel.” One of those terrorist groups, Hamas, launched the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, that resulted in the cold-blooded murder of more than 1200 Israeli citizens, precipitating the current conflict.
More ominously, Iran’s persistent effort to develop a nuclear weapon threatens not only Israel, but civilization as we know it.
Ever since the Iranian theocrats took power in January, 1979, and seized the U.S. embassy a few months later, the Iranian regime has been an obstacle to the attainment of world peace, not only in the Middle East, but also across the globe.
American foreign policy with Iran up to this point essentially has been one of appeasement. But as history has shown, trying to achieve “peace” with zealous, murderous dictators who only care about enlarging their power is a fool’s mission.
America finally has taken Khamenei and Iran’s authoritarian leaders at their word — and their message of hate at last has been met with an appropriate response.
We know we join with all Americans in praying for a speedy end to the conflict and for the safety of our military men and women and innocent civilians throughout the Middle East.