Is March the break up month? Snopes.com doesn’t think so. Barbara “now is the winter of our discontent” Mikkelson, writing for Snopes, thinks it’s January. She cites a November-December freeze on break ups until after the holidays for a variety of reasons: no one wants people to think they’re a Grinch, holiday plans have already been booked, people don’t want to face the holidays alone, and gifts may already have been purchased. When I was young, friends complained that girlfriends would break up with them shortly after receiving Christmas presents, causing them to feel like they’d been played for suckers. It’s understandable that parents don’t want to spoil their kids’ Christmas and some eternal optimists think a Christmas miracle might happen. Sometimes, Mikkelson claims, additional financial stresses brought about by the holidays break the already weakened camel’s back. I can’t disagree with much of what she says because I’ve experienced some of it, but others do.

FindLaw.com, a highly-visited website for legal information, found that divorce-related searches peak in March. They also spike up on April Fool’s Day and on Mondays. Their analysis can be found at: https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/lifestyle/2015/03/16/didyouknow-march-is-known-as-the-breakup-month/

When I was in high school—a time when I couldn’t buy a date—somewhat attractive girls would find me attractive enough to want to make out with me on Easter weekend, but not earlier or later. Perhaps, they’d just ditched their old boyfriends and were trolling the pool looking for a new one. On the other hand, spring is the season of new beginnings and these girls may have tired of their old boyfriends over the winter and wanted someone entirely new.

On at least two occasions, an Aspie woman I know has called me for comforting after being dumped this time of year. One time, it was her new, “perfect” boyfriend who dumped her, so she went back to her old one. The most recent time, she’d been test-dating two guys she’d met on dating sites. Both of them broke off with her over the same weekend.

Mikkelson is probably correct in that winter brings out the discontent in relationships, killing them when spring breaks.