Manners Matter: Oct. 30, 2015

By Mary Pat

Dear Mary Pat,

I don’t mean to sound too petty here, but I have trouble this time of year with the mass exodus of the county. I’m not talking about tourists and visitors, I’m talking about the residents who flee for warmer states for the winter. Door County is seasonal, and I understand why people decide to only live here for half the year, but I’m a little jealous. My jealousy only increases when I see the countless pictures of warm beaches and people wearing short-sleeved shirts in February. I know that it’s childish and ridiculous to feel this way, but I can’t seem to help it. It takes me a couple of weeks to get used to a good portion of my friends not being here and then it seems to hit me again hard mid-winter when it feels like it will never be warm again. Am I crazy?

Signed,

Left Behind

Sister Bay, Wis.

Dear Left Behind,

We all have our moments of jealousy, but you really shouldn’t ever compare yourself to others. You will always come up short. Yes, warm weather and scenic pictures are great, however, they are not proof of the grass being greener (figuratively speaking). People leave the Door for different reasons: some are too frail to handle the temperatures, some cannot make a living here in the off-season and others just like a change of scene. If you really think hard about this, you probably aren’t as jealous as you think. You just want your friends here around you, which is a good thing. And you don’t want them to miss out on the extreme joy of shoveling and then shoveling some more, and then shoveling yet again.

Good luck,

Mary Pat