The cold temperatures hovered early in October this year with a good and proper snowstorm mid-November. Since the heat and humidity hung on through much of September, it caused a deep chill in my bones, a shock to the system. We see this some years: a dramatic change instead of a gradual one. Some Michiganders love it and are looking forward to the coming cold (snow) months, while others are dreading it and can’t wait until Spring arrives. I can already feel the frigid cold of winter settling in all the way to my bone marrow. A deep freeze ready to slowly infiltrate my body until I’m permanently frozen solid… (are you thinking I’m one of those waiting for Spring? Oh, yeah!) But winters have their place – especially for children. (Or adults who are still children at heart!)
I remember going sledding in the cold winter temperatures as a child. (Does anyone remember the bread bags in our boots to keep our feet dry?) We’d stay out until our toes hurt and then come in and moan in pain as we thawed out. Well, I did. I’m not sure if any of my siblings did. I've been told I’d had a touch of frostbite when I was little, so perhaps I'm not as much of a wimp as I thought I was.
Anyway, we didn’t really have much choice in coming in earlier. We were fortunate to have a really big hill behind us, but we had to trudge through the snow through a loooong field, then another loooong field, then we cliiiimbed up the hill – I can’t remember how long it took to get from the house to the top of that hill, but it was worth the ride down!! The toboggan was the best! Sometimes, it would flip nearer the end of the slide and we’d all pile over. The flying saucers were the fastest – and often dumped us at the end. What fun!
The problem was, the hill was so high and rather steep at the top, the ride down was fast and faaaarrrr. You often made it halfway back across that looooong field. Needless to say, I only went up and down a few times as my toes would be yelling at me before too loooong.
It’s full of trees now, that hill, and I find that sad. So many kids missing out on that ride down the “mountain”. What a life we had!
Children. Winter.
But now I’m sliding pretty fast and faaaarrr to (DON’T SAY IT) old (dang, she said it). So now – cold…frozen to the bone…icy fingers… I can continue, or I can shut up and put on my layers of clothing when I go outside and remember to go in a building for a much needed warm up when it’s necessary. Before my toes start yelling at me.
Live in the moment, folks. Live in the moment. Even if it’s painful.
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