Cold Weather Fun

I grew up in the south where kids swim as well as they walk. Here in the north where it’s cold, kids seem to skate as well as they walk. I was entranced on this really cold day in January watching these kids elegantly gliding across the ice; as much at home on the ice as they are on dry land. Here in Connecticut where it’s famed for being cold nine months of the year, people learn to do things outside all year round. They ski, cross country ski, go snowshoeing and ice-skating. I’ve gotten used to it. Hardly a day goes by that I’m not out about an hour walking my dog. You learn dress for it. The first cold day feels really cold, but then after it’s been cold for about a month, the cold doesn’t get to you the same way. The first snowfall everyone hunkers down at home. But come January, people tend to press on with their lives, go to work, to their doctor appointments, meet with their friends. The cold becomes a way of life, just as the heat is a way of life in the south. It’s what you get used to and eventually, you might even like it. 

But we have fewer and fewer days when it’s cold enough for the ice to freeze. We have fewer and fewer snowstorms. Maple trees are tapped earlier. There are more ticks because they don’t freeze over the winter. This fall we had a drought and brush fires. This cold that I’ve gotten used to, and even started to like, is dwindling. And so I savor the view of these kids skating, enjoying the cold, as it becomes an uncommon rather than a typical sight.