Sunday, November 11, 2007

Cold in the Carolinas

The autumn we moved to North Carolina we saw kids walking around on campus wearing scarves and gloves when it was 60 degrees outside. Steve and I both had on short sleeved shirts and made fun of them endlessly. Four and a half years later we are the people we used to make fun of.

"It's supposed to get ridiculously cold this week," a friend told me last week as she stood in the 70 degree warmth of our morning play date. "The temperature is going to get really low tonight," she warned.

When I woke up the next morning under a mound of blankets that I had piled on myself sometime in the night, I realized she was right--it actually had gotten cold in the Carolinas.

I pulled on my parka and went down stairs to see just how cold it was. The thermostat told me it was 68 degrees in our house. Oh, that won't do, I told myself as I cranked the temperature up to 80.

The weather channel website told me the high was 63 degrees. 63! I wasn't prepared for this. We were going to need coats! Hats! Mittens! I didn't know where any of Ella's scarves were and wondered whether I had time to knit her one before school.

That morning my children ate their breakfast dressed in fleece coats and pants. The baby was even wearing fur lined boots.

I burned through at least $30 worth of gasoline allowing my car to warm up enough for us to get in so we could bring Ella to school.

Addison, who is still too young to comprehend the chill that accompanies sub-50 degree weather, tugged angrily at her boots the whole way to school. She cried until she finally got them (and her socks) off... then felt the frigid air upon her bare feet and cried more. I realized I was going to have to explain the cold to her and discuss the dangers of frost bite or, at the very least, chapped lips.

My car told me it had reached 45 degrees when I dropped Ella off for school at 9:00. While I was waiting in car line I saw a little girl walking into school wearing a skirt and flip flops. A chill went up my spine and I double checked to make sure Ella's mittens were in her book bag. Her family must be new to the area. "Mommy, I don't want to take my coat off today when I get into school," Ella told me. I assured her she wouldn't have to.

It's not going to get back up in the 70s again until Tuesday. I hope we don't have to burn our house down to stay warm until then.

Just Barely getting used to long sleeves again,
Amy






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1 comment:

  1. Isn't it fun how we change!!:) I am always cold natures, no matter where I live..

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