Keller @ Large: No More Avoiding Winter Here

BOSTON (CBS) - As you grow up, there are always people telling you to seize control of your life and the world around you.

"Work hard" and "reach for the stars" they say. "Get out there," "go for it," on and on the nostrums go.

And while there's plenty of truth in all that advice, I've come to learn that one thing they don't emphasize as much is how important it is to try to avoid things.

Like getting a cold, for instance.

I'm one of those near-obsessive hand washers, and I credit it for keeping me generally cold-free. I rarely use all of my sick time, and when I do take a sick day it's usually because I ate something disagreeable that kept me up all night.

But there are only so many germs you can avoid. I can feel the symptoms building, and the zinc tablets don't appear to be blocking its advance.

What's worse than a mid-winter cold? Getting it during a snowstorm.

My plow guy will come eventually, but he doesn't do the back stairs and the cleanup after the drifting. That will fall to me, the world's most miserable human, struggling with the eternal question – how do you keep Kleenex dry when every other part of you is wet?

We've done a good job of avoiding winter around here for the last couple of years, a nice reward for surviving the snowpocalypse of 2015. But it looks like our luck has run out, with today's storm possibly being followed by more next week.

Some things simply cannot be avoided.

Mother Nature does what she wants, when she wants.

So do winter colds.

OK, I'm humbled.

Now please, pass the Kleenex.

Listen to Jon's commentary: