Victory over Winter ("VOW") Day

Vanquishing Winter (Again)

There is something inherently sobering about the realization that Mother Nature is trying to kill you.

--Garrison Keillor

If you're under 30 years old -- make that under 60 -- you likely have no clue what "VE" or "VJ" Day stand for ("Victory over Europe" and "Victory over Japan," respectively).

Instead, how about celebrating a perennial holiday that every Minnesotan can relate to: Victory over Winter ("VOW") Day.

Sure, winter may have inflicted casualties before retreating in earnest (the ice dam over the dining room ceiling; your waistline).

And to be sure, not everyone made it (for example, the 25 year-old forced air furnace that konked out).

But if you're in Minnesota in March -- and have spent the last six months or so here -- there's a palpable sense not just of renewal and Spring fever -- but triumph.

Winter truly is a deadly adversary, and it's finally been vanquished.

For now . . . .

(And no, the date can't be put on a calendar -- you just know when it's arrived.)