WINTER, I LOVE YOU!!!

This year, Florida has been experiencing more than a few days of winter, even more than a week. Those from other states have no idea how rare and precious this has become!

Every February I hear people declare with exaltation, "Summer is right around the corner now, I can't wait!" -- I WANT TO PUNCH THEM!!! I don't want summer arriving. I dread the long months of heat & humidity along with hurricane stress & anxiety! Summer has become a season of misery for me. Oh and I forgot the swarms of bugs, too!

The best part of the year here in Florida is after hurricane season when the holidays arrive one after the other. And if the weather is chilly, that's a double bingo jackpot!

So winter please stay awhile longer, linger into spring. Your cold nip excites me and makes me feel alive, yet, safe and comfortable. Wrap yourself around me and let me inhale you.

Yeah sure, I know people up north are shivering in the snow & ice. However, judging by the horrendous traffic and congestion, I think half of them are down here. Go home and freeze, I say!

Late spring and summer will at least bring an end to that, (temporarily) along with lengthy lines in restaurants & supermarkets, also it will be easier to find parking spaces once the tourists & snowbirds go home. This part is good at least, but I still long for the coolness of winter.

I'll miss the glowing serenity of the season, being bundled-up in warm clothes with my snuggy boots and a mug of hot mocho here alone inside the house I love. Twenty years ago this would have seemed an impossible fantasy. No matter what happens in the future, I can look back and know that I enjoyed the sublime here and now.

And when it's cold I fall asleep faster and sounder under lots of heavy covers!

For the first time in almost a decade, I've had to turn the heat on to get the chill out of the house in the AM, but I prefer that to sweating! My thermostat is set at 68 degrees. Once the temperature hits that, I turn it off.

I've never eaten so much soup in my life as I have this winter, except during the back-to-back hurricanes of 2004. Then, I sipped it at room temperature. I didn't mind, because my house was boarded up and there was no electricity. The last thing I wanted was something hot!  OMG What I wouldn't have given for a big, freezing, cold, chocolate-covered ice cream bar during the aftermath of those hurricanes!

Our Florida winters were becoming steadily hotter. Often I wore my summer clothes year round. The pretty sweaters & jackets I bought on sale, at long last I've been able to wear! They've just hung in my closet for a few years until now.

Please winter, linger awhile longer. I wish I could freeze time and make you last forever. But I can only enjoy the chill while it lasts. I fear the weather will be warming long before summer returns.

I've got my fingers crossed in hope for next December. Winter, please don't be a stranger. You are welcome here!