I won't lament the weather

     My friend says it aloud but she might as well say it directly to me.

“Lamenting the weather is like lamenting the existence of prime numbers.”

I want to resist what she says. Prime numbers don’t numb my nose and fingers. They don’t turn my muscles into tight little wads of shiver. Prime numbers don’t make me slow and plodding and careful, taking to steps and sidewalks like minefields.

You could call it mid-April now and for the past two days I’ve awoken to a layer of ice on everything. This morning, there is snow on the ground and on the trees. It is still snowing.

I long for seventy-five degrees. I long for warm spring showers and the subsequent May flowers.

But I’ve longed and lamented enough in this life to know that longing and lamenting don’t do a whole lot of good for me or for anyone else.

So I won’t lament the weather.

Instead, I’ll notice how gently the flakes fall outside my window, and how different that looks in the April light.

I’ll remember how much I love my soft wool socks and how happy my feet are when they are tucked in my winter boots, dry and cozy with two pairs of warmth that allow me to be outside comfortably.

I won’t lament the weather.

I’ll appreciate my Cuddl Duds—long underwear that I put on sometime around September and don’t take them off until it’s warm. It may be June this year. I may be walking around looking a bit like that Michelin Man tire guy, full of big layers. But I’m warm.

I’ll notice that the robins are back and that the juncos are still here. The juncos fly south to my home for the winter. They hang out here until it gets too warm and then they fly back to their colder climate for summer. It’s mid-April and those classy white-breasted, charcoal grey-backed, yellow-beaked little guys are still out at my feeder.

I won’t lament the weather.

I will instead be grateful for how warm my house is, the rich and steady warmth of the radiators keeping the place toasty and perfect for snuggling up to read a book to my kid.

Every night in the winter, I take a hot bath, settling into the steamy room, the hot (hot!) water and letting every bit of chill from the day wash away. I come out floppy, entirely relaxed and go right to sleep. This is one of my favorite things about winter.

That and having a child come and sit on my lap, her head on my chest. Snuggling under blankets together is surely something we don’t do in July. We do it in this weather.  

This weather, which is the weather that we’ve got today. I’m going to love it and appreciate it and know that when it changes, there will be other things to be happy about—as long as I remember to look for them.