Denise Crosby: Winter’s arrival frosts fair-weather fans

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Elgin police work at the scene of a rollover accident Thursday afternoon. The SUV, whose driver apparently was not seriously hurt, was on Randall Road when it reportedly jumped the median, flipped and was hit by a van. | Bill O'Neill~For Sun-Times Media

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Updated: February 14, 2012 10:18AM

Seriously, I wondered. What is this stuff?

It fell from the sky on Thursday, covering our Good Brownish-Green Earth with a pale and shimmery blanket that seemed as foreign as Ron Paul’s surprising poll numbers.

“The white fluffy stuff? That’s snow,” explained my eldest son from the Dallas area, which has recorded more of it this winter than the Chicago area.

Ahh, snow — now I remember it. That’s the Mother Nature product we’ve been cursing like lumberjacks the last few winters. It’s the nasty stuff that caused physical, emotional and financial havoc less than a year ago when as much as 2 feet was dumped on us in blustery conditions that shut down airports, road systems and the U.S. mail service.

Most of us — especially those who had to get up and go to work while our neighbors enjoyed hot chocolate and s’mores around their family room fireplaces — were so traumatized by the BLIZZARD OF 2011 that we blocked the whole concept of snow from our minds, choosing instead to focus on the warm and fuzzy: such as summer vacations and Oprah’s never-ending goodbye and Theo Epstein’s triumphant ride to join the Cubs in the City of Eternal Hope.

And this wonderfully mild winter has allowed us to keep the annoying white stuff far back in the recesses of our minds. Visions of skateboards replaced snowboards. The only snowmen made by our children are hanging behind refrigerator magnets. Instead of bearing down during really bad sub-zero games at Soldier Field, we’ve only had to bear down through games that were, well, really bad.

A funny thing happened on our way into 2012. As our parkas, boots and snow shovels got relegated even farther to the back of closets — as we put away our chili pots and re-fired up our backyard grills — we decided that, hey, maybe it ain’t so bad living in this broke and corrupt state after all.

Then came Thursday morning, when reality hit like a cold arctic blast.

It all comes rushing back — during rush hour, no less — as we pulled out our mittens and ice scrapers, and began the wintry trek to work. While some commuters drove as if they’d never seen the fluff stuff before, others tore down the interstate, zipping around big yellow plows with their flashing lights, still in an obvious but understandable state of denial.

Blame the sudden weather change on the prayers of hyperactive children who wanted to turn backyards into hockey rinks.

Blame the prayers of cold weather retailers and snowplow drivers who wanted to pay their mortgages.

We here in the Chicago area are a hearty bunch who have survived much. Yes, we like to complain. But it’s not as if we’ve had no other crosses to bear this winter: Whooping cough. Root Worm. Republican debates. And, of course, we’ve always got Bears versus Packers.

Speaking of harsh reality — now that winter has arrived, the next question is whether it will be a short stay or the brutal (albeit, delayed) visit that meteorologists had earlier predicted.

I’m going with the first choice. But then, I’m also rooting for Ron Paul to stay in the race, for the Bears to hire a GM who can draft, and for Epstein to land a pitching ace who will put his new team back in the hunt.

After all, hope does spring eternal. Especially when you’re not even halfway through winter.