By Lee Scott

A Weather Vane is an instrument for showing the direction of the wind. A “Weather Vain” is an obnoxious person bragging about their great weather. You know that person who has the uncontrollable urge to send texts and emails about the wonderful weather they are having while others are suffering. They send pictures of themselves wearing shorts and t-shirts out fishing while their brothers and sisters are shoveling snow. They brag about how many “inches” of sunshine they had that day. Clearly these “Weather Vains” have not read Dale Carnegie’s book, “How to win friends and Influence people”.

The residents of Boston who have endured over one hundred inches of snow this year are not prepared to see the “Weather Vain’s” Facebook post showing him drinking a martini on his back deck. On the other hand, they don’t mind seeing a Boston couple’s Caribbean vacation pictures posted because everyone knows they will be back in the cold by the end of the week.

We here in South Carolina have had a pretty chilly winter, but we must refrain from complaining about our forty degree days. There are people in the North who would have loved to just get out of the single digit temperatures. They are posting pictures on Facebook now of their thermostats above freezing – a warming trend. A friend of mine told me the story of her son who lives in Staten Island and takes the ferry to Manhattan. She said what used to be a short trip for him was turning into an hour long ordeal.

The last thing he wanted to hear was her complaining about our two nights of freezing temperatures. Their lives have been disrupted this winter. School delays and cancellations; bus, train and airplane  delays. Government offices shut down. Let’s face it, these people are just not in a good mood right now! Do not rub it in that you were playing golf all weekend! They do not want to know about your sunburn. That is just down right cruel.

So the next time you are chatting with a relative up north. Be sensitive. Understand that they have had a particularly bad winter. Of course, when they send you pictures next August enjoying their comfortable seventy degree weather while we are sweltering here,  you might want to provide them with the definition of a “Weather Vain”.