Actually, it's not really that frightful, but it's a tad unpleasant. Just a tad, but only if you aren't prepared. As I check the thermometer mounted just outside the window behind me, I see that we're dipping just below 40 degrees at 5:00 p.m. It's also pitch black outside. Ahhh, winter in the mid-Atlantic states! I actually like the cold. A week ago on Friday we enjoyed a lovely 70-degree day. Well, ok. We didn't enjoy it. It happened to be the day of my father-in-law's funeral. But, it was uncharacteristically warm. That is, it was uncharacteristically warm until about 3:00 p.m. when a gust of wind blew through, and the temps tumbled into the 40s. All was right in the Philadelphia world. That's our weather here. One minute it's quite comfortable, the next it's freezing ... or it's boiling hot with humidity of 99 percent. I know a lot of people who talk about going to Florida to enjoy the lovely year-round weather. That's just not for me. I don't have the attention span for unchanging year-round weather. True, every now and then a good hurricane blows through to really mix things up in the Sunshine State. But we get hurricanes now and then, too, along with ice storms, blizzards, flooding rains, baking droughts, and I've even heard tell of a swarm of locusts coming through once. It's interesting. Really. I promise you. And in the fall, we enjoy beautiful crisp air and sparkling colors. In the spring, the green is greener than one can imagine, and the daffodils dip and sway in soft breezes. Spring in Philadelphia is my favorite season, by the way. It usually lasts several hours as we transition from freeze to oppressive, sticky heat.
So in about an hour, I'm going to venture out to Mass on this holy day of obligation. I'll put on my brand new down jacket and enjoy the cold air on my face, and I'll say a little prayer of thanksgiving for a pretty, sparkling cold evening just outside of Philadelphia. Amen.
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