Saturday, January 21, 2012

The Other Side of the Coin

"Charlene, what makes you come so far in the winter?"

"Have you ever spent a winter in Minnesota"?

"No, but I was in Minneapolis once, first week of April one year. Went to the stadium to watch the crew paint the grass green for opening day. The snow mountains in the parking lot were ginormous."

"Was it cold?"

"A bit."

"Spread the snow everywhere a foot deep, put some ice under that, and drop the temperature to twenty below zero."

"I get the picture."

Oh, yeah. South Texas is the place to be.

The thing is, though, all these people are older than dirt. No kids screaming and laughing as their sleds fly down the hill; (no hill, for that matter) no teens lallygagging around with their semi-innocent PDsA. Not even any professionals or workaday people bustling home for a bite to eat and a bit of rest before rushing back to work at dawn. The social interactions are largely lolling in the sun or in the pool, talking about what once was.

But it's not cold.

I am sure there was no "accusation," but it has been hinted that I might be "rubbing it in." I present today's post as the other side of the coin. Enjoy your family, your work, your winter wherever you are.

6 comments:

Jim said...

It's a typical Indiana winter here so far. We got a quarter inch of ice overnight, but tomorrow it'll be 48 degrees.

vanilla said...

Jim, I thank you for the weather report. I believe I dislike ice storms even more that I dislike snow.

Secondary Roads said...

From here it seems like you're still "rubbing it in." That's okay. I belong to the school of "If you can't stand the winters, you don't deserve the summers." :) We only got an inch or two of new snow since yesterday. Nothing like the 8" that Lin reports in Chicago.

Next Saturday is our church's annual chili dinner and sleigh ride. I'm pretty sure they don't do that down there.

Vee said...

When our dad returned north from his trip to Florida to check out retirement living, he declared that he would rather have the neighborhood kids break out a few of his windows than live down there with all of those "old people."

Shelly said...

The weather down here is usually worth a pot of gold this time of the year. Can't say the same about summer...

vanilla said...

Chuck, okay, you got me.

Shelly, it is worth a pot of gold. Good thing, too, because at today's prices that's about what it takes toet here. ;-)

Vee, I well remember Dad's assessment of Florida: Nobody there but old people.