Inspired by a winter picture on the internet
I miss snow.
I realize this is a strange thing to bring up or even think about in the month of June, but you must understand that I haven’t seen any in a year and a half. In most parts of the country, people are enthusiastically dragging out their summer clothes and looking forward to pool parties and fishing trips.
For me, these things have been going on for months. I really don’t mean to sound boastful, but just recognize there is no delicate way for me to say that, with the exception of a few very short cold snaps, it’s warm here all year round. There. I said it.
So yes, I get to skip all that bone chilling cold that descends on most of the country in the winter. I no longer get pelted in the face with sleet, or experience spectacular falls on the ice, or have that horrible, white-knuckled drive to work in the dark through the three feet of snow that fell overnight.
I haven’t forgotten those things. And I don’t miss them. When I say that I miss snow, it is a much more complicated, intangible thing that I am trying to describe.
We all have programmed reactions to certain things in our environment that we aren’t the slightest bit aware of. I realized this when the heater in my apartment kicked on for the first time and I automatically slipped into “fall mode.” In my mind, it was time to get ready for Halloween and go buy sweaters. Except that it was already late November and Thanksgiving was just around the corner. HUH?
Then I noticed myself walking into the grocery store wearing flip flops and shorts a week before Christmas. There was no chill in the air - no crispness. There wasn’t the extra weight of a wool coat on my shoulders or the cold on my cheeks. That’s when it hit me like a ton of bricks … I missed it.
Let me be clear. I do not miss standing in the snow at 6:30 in the morning scraping my windows before I can leave for work. I don’t miss feeling my whole body clench every time I step outside for five solid months. And I definitely don’t miss the gray skies that linger until April.
But those few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas? They deserve some cold. The holidays aren’t the same without it. Christmas lights are never more beautiful than when they’re surrounded by snow. Christmas songs just sound better when you’re staring into a fire.
This is just a little something to think about when it’s so cold you can’t imagine it ever being warm again. I’ve been there. And after 15 snow-free months, I finally miss it.
I realize this is a strange thing to bring up or even think about in the month of June, but you must understand that I haven’t seen any in a year and a half. In most parts of the country, people are enthusiastically dragging out their summer clothes and looking forward to pool parties and fishing trips.
For me, these things have been going on for months. I really don’t mean to sound boastful, but just recognize there is no delicate way for me to say that, with the exception of a few very short cold snaps, it’s warm here all year round. There. I said it.
So yes, I get to skip all that bone chilling cold that descends on most of the country in the winter. I no longer get pelted in the face with sleet, or experience spectacular falls on the ice, or have that horrible, white-knuckled drive to work in the dark through the three feet of snow that fell overnight.
I haven’t forgotten those things. And I don’t miss them. When I say that I miss snow, it is a much more complicated, intangible thing that I am trying to describe.
We all have programmed reactions to certain things in our environment that we aren’t the slightest bit aware of. I realized this when the heater in my apartment kicked on for the first time and I automatically slipped into “fall mode.” In my mind, it was time to get ready for Halloween and go buy sweaters. Except that it was already late November and Thanksgiving was just around the corner. HUH?
Then I noticed myself walking into the grocery store wearing flip flops and shorts a week before Christmas. There was no chill in the air - no crispness. There wasn’t the extra weight of a wool coat on my shoulders or the cold on my cheeks. That’s when it hit me like a ton of bricks … I missed it.
Let me be clear. I do not miss standing in the snow at 6:30 in the morning scraping my windows before I can leave for work. I don’t miss feeling my whole body clench every time I step outside for five solid months. And I definitely don’t miss the gray skies that linger until April.
But those few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas? They deserve some cold. The holidays aren’t the same without it. Christmas lights are never more beautiful than when they’re surrounded by snow. Christmas songs just sound better when you’re staring into a fire.
This is just a little something to think about when it’s so cold you can’t imagine it ever being warm again. I’ve been there. And after 15 snow-free months, I finally miss it.