Jealous Thoughts

It hit 78 degrees here in Texas today, while North Dakota and Minnesota suffered a blizzard, with 8-10 inches of snow.

But...it WAS windy this weekend. So windy that while I was shoe shopping at a local store I heard the wind whistling through the emergency exit door. It sounded so forlorn and cold that it brought me right back to my childhood where I had the bedroom on the north side of the house. The winter wind would beat at the house, and the snow pellets would patter on my window, composing a symphony throughout the night.

My childhood house was built in 1959, and although well built, my bedroom had cracks and crevices where the frigid wind would slither through. I loved it though. Mom would pile mounds of blankets on my bed until I got warm. I especially remember a homemade quilt she picked up somewhere - a garage sale, flea market, church lottery maybe? It was a patchwork of fabrics, held together with yarn pieced through the middle of each square. I wonder if it was some family's clothes all cut up and sewed together as a memory quilt. Did the maker intend for it to end up on a stranger's bed?

To this day I have to have a cold room to sleep in. Even better if it's a cold room and lots of blankets.

So it turns out that I'm actually jealous of all of you. As children we looked forward to blizzards - no school for one thing. And it changed up the day-to-day routine a bit. Dad didn't have to go to work for one thing. I'm sure Mom was a nervous wreck during storms - I remember her fretting that we were all going to suffocate or the roof was going to cave in. Dad was much more pragmatic - he knew he'd sell more snow blowers at our hardware store when it was all over.

I hope that you all huddle up together and enjoy the storm. It's nature's way of telling you to slow down and spend more time together!