Winter to Spring (and perhaps back again)
I got a lot of advice about what I would experience and what I should expect during my first winter in the Midwest. Many people imparted their wisdom. Their eyes would light up, and in that shine you would see them welcoming you, not as a friend but as another soul to share their misery. They would tell me things: how your eyelashes would freeze your eyes closed, how your skin would crack, how you would never see the sun, how icicles would form from the unlikeliest places. There was joy in their stories, joy perhaps, that they were no longer the only ones to endure; another sad recruit had joined their ranks.
But a lot of what they told me did not come true. Their war stories were mostly fantasies compounded by their time as hardened inmates of a winter prison.
I endured snow, a good deal of cold and wind, but all in all, nothing you would not expect from a regular, but harsh, winter in the north of this country. Most things I learned, I learned them on my own. These are the truths that no friend or foe warned me about.
1. There are parts of your body you don’t expect will need care, like your eyelids.They will flake and crack. Covering one’s face in vaseline is not a bad idea.
2. No one cares what you look like. My coat, a purple monster made by Lands End, became more or less a sleeping bag by February. With a broken zipper, I had to step out of the thing like a child getting in and out of a onesie. No one cared, and neither did I. All that mattered was that I was somewhat warm.
3. You will meet people while in your winter wear, strike up a conversation with them, and when it’s time to meet them again, it is impossible to know what they actually looked like when they are out of the gear. First dates are very difficult because of this.
4. SAD is real. It turns everyone into Pagan sun worshippers. When the sun appears the world is in a bacchanalian delight.
5. Counting and tracking the exact minute the sun goes down, and comparing it to the days previous can be a real hobby- if only to prove that they world is turning and the sun is coming back. Though the days are dark and so long, there is always hope. We are resolute, we will endure. This surely cannot last forever.
A friend told me to mark when the first snow fell, and that winter wouldn’t truly be over until the last days of it were clear. Those last days may have just come by.
