In Shakespeare’s play “Julius Caesar,” the soothsayer warns Caesar to “Beware the Ides of March.”

The Ides of March, or March 15, would indeed prove to be disastrous for Caesar.

Shortly after being warned, he shrugged the soothsayer’s words off as, “He is a dreamer. Let us leave him.” Instead, he should have paid more attention.

On the Ides of March in 44 B.C., Caesar would be assassinated at a meeting of the Roman Senate. While a number of conspirators were involved in his stabbing death, the most famous of those was Brutus, to whom Caesar was close. As Caesar was dying, he looked to Brutus in the Shakespeare play and says “Et Tu Brute,” or “You too, Brutus?”

Today in northern Michigan, March 15 is generally not seen as something to worry about. The date is more of a transition point as residents generally start growing tired of “cabin fever” and start looking ahead to longer days of sunlight and gradually warming temperatures. It is a time period when, generally speaking, residents know there will be one more “winter blow” around St. Patrick’s Day and then, normally, things start a slow transition to spring.

And, according to National Weather Service reports, that pattern looks to hold fairly true in the days ahead.

Enjoy today. Have fun.

But if a soothsayer comes by and whispers in your ear, by all means pay heed to him or her. Caesar certainly wishes he had.

(THE ALPENA NEWS)