Winter

As you may have read last month, I got to play in snow for the first time in several years.  Prior to that, the only time in recent memory was during a trip to Colorado for an audiology convention in 2007.  My wife and I drove up a mountain and fell in piles and flung a few hastily created balls.  Snow and sustained cold weather are a novelty to someone who lives in Florida, particularly the Southern portion.  Having lived in West Palm Beach most of my life, I feel cheated in this regard.

I never got to go sledding. Ride on a snowmobile.  I've never gone snow skiing or snowboarding.  My trips north in my early years had me building a few snowmen and just gazing in wonder at it all.  Much as I did during the trip to NJ last month.  Just running my ungloved fingers through it.  It's magical.  Even when it gets dirty and slushy.  I know that readers who live in wintry locales will laugh at this.  They'll imagine that if I had to shovel the driveway every day for a month I would change my tune.

Growing up where the summer (almost) never ends, I feel that not only was I cheated, but I've been warped in some fashion.  My father (who grew up in Norway) had a theory, one I heard repeatedly during my formative years: constant warmth and tropical conditions affects people's brains.  There needs to be a progression of seasons.  A time to play.  A time to hibernate.  It allows order of mind and body.  I agree.  Not many people, regardless of where they live, do.  ESPECIALLY not those in my neck of the woods.  People here balk when the thermostat dips below 70.  Last week, it went quite a bit below.  Mornings in the 30s.  A few days where the highs did not climb above the 50s.  Mostly sunny. Heavenly.

Why don't you move, then? In time.  It will happen.  Getting closer to that goal.   I will do the opposite of most - move out of FL, to a cooler place (in every sense of the word).  I have a lot of seasonal catching up to do.