Thinny Thin Thin

That’s what my blood has become. Having grown up in Chicago and spent the rest of my years prior to 2004 in New York and Boston, the cold winter experience was always a part of me. Visions and experiences from the blizzard of ’79 in Chicago and blizzard of ’96 in New York City are indelibly printed in my memory. Yes- the long, freezing winters of day-in and day-out shoveling which sometimes went well into the month of April, were exactly the reason why we moved cross-country.

So here I am now, living in San Diego. And after only 3 ½ years, It's safe to say I’ve become a total cold weather WUSS. On Friday night the outside temperature was very chilly-- around 55 degrees. For our family dinner outing, I donned a scarf, wool sweater, fleece-lined tall boots and mittens! As I left the house I caught a quick glimpse of myself in the mirror and chuckled. Boy, has my blood thinned. Back east, when the temperature ROSE to 50 degrees, I would break out my short sleeves, roll down my car windows and celebrate what I felt was BALMY weather. I wasn’t the only one either. Our neighbors would routinely break out their grilling tools and host barbeques!

*Sigh.*

It’s all relative, I guess. As I type, I have family members in the Midwest currently experiencing single digit temperatures—something like 3 degrees. Psssh. I wouldn’t even be able to get the mail without crying. I certainly don’t miss those cold, snowy winters. I don’t even know how I managed all those years.

Someday, perhaps I’ll venture back for a visit between November and April. No problem. When full-bodied electric suits are fashionable, count me in!