If there’s one subject that Alaskans love to talk about, it’s the weather.
We live in a state of seasons, and like the Brits, we pride ourselves on making chit chat with strangers about the current state of our forecast.
Lately, it’s been about the cold.
I’m not talking about the "burr, time to slip on some gloves” kind of cold, but the walk outside to start your car twenty minutes early and have your nose boogers freeze in the process kind of cold.
The negative degree type of chill that goes straight to your bones and settles there until you’ve warmed yourself up in a tub of hot water.
It’s a big deal here!
Heck, when the temperatures first dipped below below zero, you should’ve seen how excited my dad was. Our first day of below freezing temperature, hoorah!
I don’t know if it’s my not-quite-acclimatized-to-the-weather California in me, but -8 degrees feels a heck of a lot colder than what I remember.
See, when it’s this cold out, there’s not much you can do but stay cooped up in doors. I mean, yes, you could be one of those brave souls who refuses to let a negative in front of a number affect them in their outdoor activities, but most of us Alaskans know by now that when it’s this cold out, you stay inside.
I happen to have had some free afternoons the last few days and to utilize my time indoors, I caught up on some missed hobbies of mine.
Writing, but of course, bingeing on an episode or two (or ten) of my newest Netflix obsession, exercising to whatever basketball game I happen to have recorded (go Lakers!), and most notably: reading.
I took myself to the bookstore yesterday after getting a call about an order being ready for pickup, and $80 later, I walked out with a stack of new books in tow.
From Capote classics to poetry, I left feeling giddy and excited about catching up on some insightful reading.
Little did I know how much those books would have an impact on me. I’ve only dipped into one so far, but even seeing these new books on my bedside table in a neat little stack inspire me to get back to reading some content that could actually add some valuable meaning to my life.
Some much needed valuable meaning.
Despite freezing my buns off and bringing out the rare curse words I save for extraordinary occasions, the cold weather ended up making a positive difference in my life.
For it not only gave me physical chills down my spine, but literary ones as well.
Get it? Chills down my spine?
