I’ve never lived anywhere else, and we don’t get harsh winters here. M grew up in the northeast, and snow was a way of life. I never even saw real snowflakes until my 2nd year of college, when I was on a road trip to visit an old roommate, and we went to Cincinnati one evening. Until then, the whole “every snowflake is different” thing was just an expression to me. We get snow, but it’s more like tiny ice chips. When it snows here, it’s a dusting, then it ices over, and lasts maybe a day. All the schools and businesses close, and the stores immediately sell out of bread, milk, toilet paper, etc.

On trips to visit M’s family, I’ve picked up some decent cold-weather driving skills, and think I can get around pretty well.

It has been a few years since the winters have been very cold at all. It might get cold enough for a sweater or something, but the heavier coats are feeling neglected. It makes the summers really awful, though. The winter never gets cold enough to kill part of the bug population off. I’m starting to think that we haven’t had winter at all last year and this year. Just a really long Autumn.

maybe I should take a winter vacation one year. I’d go someplace where I can do something like this.