Wintry Weather?

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This morning I am sitting at the computer wrapped in my robe, and wearing fuzzy slippers. Why? Because that’s what all the hot suburban moms are sporting these days (yeah riiight!) And because baby, it’s COOOOOOOLD outside! We woke up this morning with the temperature in the low 40’s, and I have to say, it’s about damn time. I am ready for a little bit cooler weather… ready for jeans and long sleeve shirts… ready for chili in the crockpot…ready to watch t.v. snuggled under a blanket on the couch with my hubby (and usually all 3 kids...sigh!). Still not ready for the holidays, but that’s a whole other blog.

Winter in Central Texas is just my speed. Not crazy cold, and the few times it does actually get crazy cold or ices or (oh my God!) actually snows, most of us can pinpoint the exact date. “Oh yeah, remember the ice storm of ’93?!… we were housebound for two days!” Having been born and raised in Central Texas (and yes, we DO capitalize the ‘C’, thank you very much!), these are the kinds of winters I grew up with, so I was in no way prepared for our move to Colorado in the winter of 1998.

The day after Phil and I moved into our (3rd floor!) apartment in Denver, it snowed. I was almost in a panic…we were unpacking, were knee-deep in moving boxes, and we still had not had a chance to shop for groceries. I just knew we would starve before the snow could melt and we would get out.

My darling husband ,who spent his formative years in Indiana, KNOWS what real winter looks like. He still tells stories about walking to school in the snow. Uphill. Both ways. ;-) He just looked at me in disbelief, and said, “Stace, people actually DRIVE in the snow here.” Well, THEY might, but I sure didn’t, and it took me a couple of years to feel comfortable driving while it was snowing. It was after one particularly disastrous commute during a snowstorm that I pulled over to the side of the road, sobbing and practically hyperventilating because my windows kept fogging up and I couldn’t see. In my panic attack, I’d forgotten about that nifty little ‘Defrost’ button on my dashboard (hey! It’s a lot of pressure driving in the snow!).

As it turns out, that first day it only snowed about 2 inches, but I remember that despite Phil’s reassurances, I still felt completely like a fish out of water. Or more like a homesick Texas girl who wondered what in the heck she’d gotten herself into.

I did finally get used to winter in Colorado and actually began to love those early season snow storms. But even after six years of living there, there were times when I would wake up, see the snow coming down and coating our yard in a blanket of white, and I still could not shake the feeling that it would be a good idea for everybody to just stay home in their robe and fuzzy slippers.