The Best Of Winter

I love winter. I love the snow, falling like little ice pebbles on the back of my neck and straight down the back of my shirt so it can create a little pool of freezing water at the small of my back. I love it when the thermometer reads 9 degrees, but you have to check the "feels like" index, because that's actually -11 degrees.

I love the wind blowing 35 mph at my back, pushing me around on the icy ground, testing my balance. Even better is the wind at my face, blinding me with tears that immediately freeze in my eyes (because the wind takes the temperature to -25 degrees), and sucking the breath out of my lungs, forcing me to try to navigate the icy ground blind, breathless, and off balance. I love not being able to feel my toes and worrying about what color they'll be when I take off my 3 layers of socks and snow boots that still didn't keep me warm enough to prevent frostbite. I love the pain of warming up my frozen extremities, and feeling the sting of the bloodflow being returned, so now I can feel my fingers, but I can't use them for another 30 minutes. I love that I have to arrive at my destination 10 minutes early because it takes that long to put on my 2 sweaters, heavy coat, scarf, ear muffs, hat, and gloves, just so I can walk the 20 yards from my car to the grocery store door. Then I have to account for the 6 minutes it takes to take all of that off so that I'm not panting like an overheated Saint Bernard 5 minutes into my shopping trip. And having to do it all again when I go back out to my car. Because I can't drive with all that crap on, because I'm bundled up like the Michelin Man and am lucky to be able to move enough to extract my keys from my purse, much less turn my head or arms enough to navigate my vehicle. And in the store, I have to get TWO shopping carts, because all of my extraneous clothes take up one entire cart, leaving no room for my food. Winter is AWESOME!!!