Turn on the Heat by Hannah Rowan #romancegems

 Winter wonderland?  Really, fellow Gems?

I can’t help but think of Green Eggs and Ham. “I do not like it…”

I know there are people who love the cold weather. I don’t understand them one little bit.

Do they not have to go out in the morning and scape a few inches of ice from their windshields, then slide sideways along slippery highways to get to work?

Do they not then come out of work only to find it already dark at 4:30 in the afternoon?

There was a time when I was probably insane. As a child I would bundle up in my hat and gloves and boots and trudge through the snow to ride a sled down a steep hill that ended at a river. My brother and I would make a trail through the woods so we’d have a clear path on the way down, but inevitably my sled would veer off course and I’d crash head-first into a tree. Brain damage would indeed explain why I thought this activity was fun, with snow melting down the back of my coat and my mittens and sleeves all wet and freezing and snow sliding into my boots.

My town would flood a parking lot bordered by railroad ties so kids could ice skate there. I tottered along on my skates—no graceful gliding for me—with visions of hot chocolate dancing through my frozen head.

And I thought I was having fun?  As I look back, I’m horrified.

Later I would take my children skiing. Or more accurately, I would drive them to the slopes and huddle in the ski lodge by the fireplace reading or writing a book until they came to tell me they were done.

In the summer I can toss on a pair of sandals and walk out the door. In the winter I have to don my armor, with hats and gloves scarf and boots, a down coat that almost keeps me warm bolstered by a few layers of sweaters beneath.

At bedtime I snuggle under a blanket, a bedspread, a down quilt, a fluffy Ugg blanket folded in half to provide two layers, and a fleecy robe, and I’m almost warm.

And this year I can’t even break up the cold by spending a week or so in a nice warm place, reminding me that winter can’t last forever.

So I tell myself it builds character, that I’m tough enough to endure it, and that this too shall pass.

But I do not like it, not one little bit!