If
you’re reading this, it means you survived January. Congratulations!
A
writer friend of mine who lives in Texas flew to Toronto last week to do a TV
interview. She bemoaned the extreme cold temperatures there. Why, one day it dropped
to -10 C! With every drop of compassion in my sweet little heart, I told
her “suck it up, Buttercup.” I’m nice like that.
It’s
hard to feel sympathetic when you’re emptying your freezer so you can crawl
inside to warm up. The weirdest things go on around you in these -30 temperatures. Take
last week.
On
Monday, I was on my way home from work when I saw a rooster running in to KFC
begging to use the deep fryer.
On
Tuesday, I noticed Tim Horton’s was offering coffee on a stick.
Wednesday,
I tried to say something to my husband while we stood outside but my words
froze. I had to gather up handfuls of sentences and take them inside to thaw
before he could hear them. He suggested I toss them in the freezer so he could
take them out one at a time at his own convenience. They’re still there.
While
dashing from the office to my car on Thursday, my shadow froze to the sidewalk.
I decided I’ll just leave it there until spring. By then, as my friend Doug
Hyde pointed out, it will be a former shadow of myself.
Friday,
my hubby climbed onto the roof to chisel smoke off the top of the chimney.
Saturday,
we babysat our grandsons and when I tucked the middle one into bed, he asked
for a toaster to cuddle instead of his teddy bear.
On
Sunday, our doorbell rang. A snowman stood on the doorstep, asking to come in
and sleep on our couch. I sent him back out just in time to see a dog trotting
by, wearing cats around his neck.
And
if you’re still reading, you survived my jokes and truly deserve a break in the
weather!
Random winter person. |
If
you’re a winter person, I admire you. I really do. I wimply don’t do outdoors
in January if I can help it. God blessed me with an attached garage, so I don’t
really step out until I’ve parked my car at work and run inside. Then I do the
same in reverse. If I must go for groceries or other errands, it’s more quick
dashes across the glacial parking lot and that’s it. If you add up all my
outdoor time so far this winter, including the hour of sledding with my family
on Christmas Day, it probably totals 66 minutes and 12 seconds.
So
why do we live here? When I asked my daughter that question one frigid day when
she was about eight years old, she looked at me and, in a tone that made it
sound like the most obvious answer in the world, she said, “because all our
friends live here!”
She
had a point. Who but fellow Manitobans truly get it? We love commiserating
about the weather and groaning over lame how-cold-was-it jokes. There’s some
kind of sick pride in knowing we have it colder than most of the planet, like
this makes us tougher and stronger. Maybe it just makes us stupider. Either way,
we’re in this together and that’s worth something.
So
as you flip your calendar over, cheer up. Having January behind us can mean
only one thing: another two and a half months of winter. Spring has to come
eventually, and no one on the planet appreciates spring more than we do here.
Hang in there, folks. And stay warm.
I love this winter! Last year's didn't do it for me. If we're going to be in this season, I want cold and tons of snow. Thank you very much!
ReplyDeleteWell then, you're one of the people I admire, Linda. Good for you! Enjoy.
ReplyDelete