I’ve mentioned before how realizing that the real world is nothing like the movies has been a bit of a shock throughout my life, but in this subject I thought I was more knowledgeable. Winter. When I was young my family took me to a resort in Pennsylvania every year for Christmas to ski. It was fantastic – a ski lodge with nothing but entertainment for a young child and a frozen tundra outside to explore. I would ski down hills that were way too advanced for me while singing Disney songs to keep myself calm. It was a magical time.
Now that I live in the Northeast, specifically NYC, I have learned that winter is quite different within cities. It is nothing like the movies, which don’t even use actual snow since it can’t be seen on film (black magic?). They use mashed potato flakes for snow and milk for rain, even in the classic Singing In The Rain. I think Singing In The Milk would be a more provocative title myself. This NYC winter seems especially brutal. I’m not sure if it’s battling the bitter wind that whips down avenues with a vengeance or the fact that I’ve forgotten what sun feels like on my skin since it seems so rare.
Even magical snow is somehow the opposite of magical in NYC where it’s there to provide a type of dirty, mystery slush for you to slip, trip or fall into. This weather takes away what I love most about NYC: the ability to walk anywhere, watch the neighborhoods change and enter new exciting places with no effort or planning. The cold weather takes all of this away. I have been inside for months it seems and while I do love my indoor time I miss the sun on my face. I miss it being bright out when I leave work – or really any time when I’m not working. I miss not taking an extra 10 minutes to dress because of the layers necessary to walk in this cold without freezing my butt off. Yes this could be my fault for not replacing my down knee-length winter coat, but I’d already gone through one record-breaking winter without it and it looks like I’ll get through this one with just my peacoat as well. It didn’t make sense to buy another when we’re moving to a more temperate climate.
I’ll never have to wonder if I’m going to faint because of the heat of the packed bodies in full snow gear on the subway or try to peer through those disgusting fogged up windows to guess if I can squeeze on the train or even be happy when the freezing wind whips my fave again. Never again. This seems to have implications for my partner’s possible plan of moving to Vermont or Colorado in the future, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. For the immediate future, this is my last freezing winter and I am ecstatic. I’m so excited for Seattle – even when it’s foggy it’s not freezing so I am fine being outside and even with clouds the city is eerily beautiful instead of stifling and depressing. The fog seems in its rightful place among trees and clean water instead of obscuring the view from high-rise windows.