Sometime around February when the Dallas winter is starting to wane and you can begin to see spring around the corner I forget that I miss the snow. I never imagined I would be the kind of person who likes living in a “sun” state. As a matter of fact I wrote in my senior year of high school that in ten years I would be living on the East coast. Hmm, yeah, didn’t quite work out that way. As all you cold state people begin to bemoan the long winter season, I wanted to provide you with a list of why you should appreciate living in a cold state.
Top Five Reasons For Living With Snow
1.) It’s beautiful. No two snowfalls are alike. Some snow floats down as if it was a holiday postcard from heaven. Other snow streams out of the sky like a torrent of ice bullets singular in purpose and destruction. Some snow coats and blankets and other snow whips and burns. Each is beautiful in its individuality and glory of nature.
2.) It’s quiet. You can’t describe the peace and stillness snow can bring. It muffles, insulates and dampens every ambient noise for miles. After a large snowfall you can walk outside and hear your heartbeat. There have been nights where I’ve stood in my parent’s backyard when the air was so quiet and still you could hear God breathe if you listened.
3.) It’s festive. The reason why I miss snow the most from October-February is because it just doesn’t seem right for the weather to still be warm. Lucy’s first Halloween it was 96 degrees in Texas. There is NOTHING festive about a 96 degree Halloween. I’ve hosted Thanksgiving dinners where we had to have the air conditioner running because it was 80+ degrees outside. Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas are supposed to be cold and preferably white.
4.) The clothes. Okay, for those of you living in cold states you are going to laugh at this, but just stay with me. It is fun to buy matching gloves and scarves. It is always exciting to break out your old box of sweaters and usher in your winter wardrobe. It is as if you bought new clothes, but you really didn’t. Long pea coats, cute boots, leather gloves, big sweaters, cute hats, ear muffs, flannel PJ’s, flannel sheets — the list of things I no longer own or wear is huge. I used to own turtlenecks in every color of the rainbow – now I own 2. That is right I own 2 turtlenecks.
5.) The kids. My biggest sadness about living in a warm state is all the winter things my kids won’t ever experience. The glory of sledding all day on a Saturday. Sledding until you have soaked through a pair of jeans and two pairs of long underwear and your chest stings a little bit as you breathe that cold, heavy air as you climb back up the hill. The rush of warmth as you stand in the doorway to your house and strip all your wet clothes off – right there in the hallway – and your mother hands you a mug of hot cocoa. Ice skating with friends on their backyard pond. Spontaneous snowball fights on the school playground that border on torture. Going to bed one night knowing that it is fall and waking up the next morning to 6 inches of snow and the knowledge that winter has started.
It was 56 degrees today and sunny. Tomorrow it will be 68 degrees and sunny. We didn’t get one snowfall this year in Dallas and I can feel Spring knocking on our back door. We might get one more really cold snap, but I suspect our winter is over. Cheer up my northern friends, you still have a reason to buy new winter clothes now that they are on sale.