Now I get it

When I was living in CA, one of the many reasons, I remember now, that I wanted to move out of the state and to another part of the country was to live through the full cycle of the year, to feel in my bones snow and thunderstorms and overbearing humidity and the cool, refreshing crispness of fall air. After all, I am a tactile learner who refuses to truly acknowledge the lessons of life unless experienced myself. To imagine it is one thing; to live it is another.

"I want to understand what it's like to fully experience all 4 seasons," I'd say in typical italicized fashion.

And oh, how I understand now. There's a reason why people rhapsodize about baking cookies and simmering pots of soup, why quilts are such favorite household items in winter and cuddling down with a good movie is such a bonus. I've always loved fruit, always loved citrus, but it is that much more welcome when grocery stores are reduced to limp vegetables and apples that have been sitting in storage for months on end. At that point, grapefruit is the most amazing new flavor to burst forth for the palate, blood oranges a godsend, and if I could get my hands on a pomello oh, I think I might just melt on the spot.


Oh heaven. But despite that, despite the many cozy nights spent around the stove with friends or quiet mornings eating fruit by my large windows that look out into the road before, despite all that right now I could really stand to be done with winter. I'm tired of wearing socks all the time. My feet want to run bare, free, unconstricted - even at night they're wrapped in wool because the bed is not all that warm. I'm tired of my sweaters, I'm tired of jeans, I'm even tired of most of my scarves and hats. So yes, I think I finally understand spring fever. Come April or May, I'm going to be One of Those People. You know, the ones that we on the West Coast used to laugh at for wandering around in shorts when temperatures hit 55.

I may not jump that far extreme, but I am going to sing for joy, for sure, when temperatures regularly climb up past 40 during the day. And then a couple months later you'll probably find me back on this space, bemoaning the humidity and heat and longing for cooler days. The solution, I may well discover, probably lies somewhere between AC and moving back to CA.