Dear Mom and Dad,
I hope you didn’t listen to the weatherman. I hope you’re not worried about all your children and grandchildren up here in Michigan. You know, the way the weatherman carries on about -30 below windchill, and sub-zero temperatures…you’d think we are on the brink of freezing solid around here.
I know you’re sitting down there in Fort Myers Beach in that 60 or 70 or 80 degree heat wave, enjoying your winter in the sun. You’re looking out across the Back Bay, aren’t you, watching all those dolphins cresting above the water in perfect symmetry…. You’re aiming those binoculars on the manatee as they swim beneath the brackish inland waters. The breeze is blowing lightly through the open lanai windows and….
But never mind that. We know you’re enjoying yourselves. We are too. And you’re not to be fussing over us, imagining that we’re freezing in the ice-cold wind. We’re just fine. The weatherman doesn’t necessarily tell the truth!
If I believed what the fellow said this morning at 6:15 a.m., I would still be shaking in fear, afraid to open the door and walk outside. He lowered his voice and warned us: Do not go outside without being dressed properly. He articulated slowly: wind chill advisory. He spooked us with tales of that bone-chilling wind blowing in from an arctic front, icing these northern states. He pointed to his weather map: it shivered 13 degrees below zero in nearby L’Anse.
I bit my lower lip and thought about you down there in the sunny south. Thought about buying a plane ticket today and skeddadling out of these frigid climes. But no! Decided not to believe the weatherman’s dire tones, dressed warmly at 1 p.m. (wearing one of those neck warmers you can pull up over your lower face if that wind starts frollicking too festively with your cheeks) and meandered outside.
Cold? It wasn’t that cold at all, Mom and Dad. Almost balmy, when the wind temporarily ceased its huffing and puffing. Indeed, I wondered briefly at all the TV fuss. I meandered slowly through the snow, pausing here and there to admire the curve of a snowdrift, the weak January sun, a log dressed with a blanket of our white fluffy snow, dried orangish leaves fluttering on the stark branches of a maple tree.
Anyway, don’t worry about any of us. No need to hurry back to Michigan to attend to our safety and well-being. We’re doing fine. It’s two degrees now and only feels like nine below. Tomorrow’s high is zero, if you can believe the weatherman. We’ll be fine; we’re sure we’ll be fine….
You enjoy that Gulf Coast! Enjoy that view as you open the door and walk outside. You should start a blog. You’d even enjoy it. We could all hear stories about pink spoonbills and hummingbirds and about….how hot you are.
We can almost imagine it.
Love, your daughter,
Kathy
9 comments
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January 14, 2009 at 7:17 pm
Mom and Dad
Dear Daughter, as we sit here on our lanai watching the manatee and dolphins and osprey flying past with fish in their claws, it is hard to find time to worry about how cold you are. So sorry! Go for that ticket. We are in a Florida cool spell for sure…but that isn’t stopping both of us golfing in the morning (but not together)….just have to tough it out in the 60’s and sunny…can do that. Looking forward to your visit in April and what fun to see where your “blog” goes here. Mom
January 14, 2009 at 8:40 pm
kimnixon
A winter snow mushroom 🙂
January 15, 2009 at 6:25 pm
centria
Mom, I think you & Dad are the best parents in the entire world! Thanks for playing along…. Have a GREAT winter there in sunny Florida & will look forward to our time together in April. AND reporting it here in this Outdoors Blog.
Kim, you’re right. It does look like a winter snow mushroom. That would have been the best cut-line.
January 16, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Emma
If your parents start a blog, let us know! I want to read it!
Look at that snow!!!
January 18, 2009 at 7:46 pm
centria
Emma, I told my mom and dad that you’d be their first blog reader. (right behind me, that is!) Isn’t that snow gorgeous? Glad you stopped by!
January 14, 2011 at 6:37 am
Elisa's Spot
Ugga Mugga!! (not awake and without tea warning)
God lord woman! I was just starting to venture outside a bit, even to move apart my in the car trips and treks through parking lots and NOW you starkly point out the cold! If the frozen fear monster gets me I’ll be hibernating again! (some of us in here say,…yes yes blaaaaaaame kathy! twill be simpler that way to sit on your ass and….) Ok, they want to swear, therefore I shan’t be typing their words, so there!
Venturing out early this morning to capture urine covered kitty to stuff her into the cat box–which has been vinegar-ed and cleared of kitty urine, and get her a bath at the vet. This is probably a group of people’s most insane thought in quite a long while, and it is very odd that 4 outside people would be having it along with me, even at the same time. They assure me that they can bathe a cat, even if they have to knock her out. sigh
Did you see where I put my tea?
January 14, 2011 at 8:26 am
Kathy
I am sorry to have made it colder than it actually is, Elisa. It’s actually quite warm here these days. Tame that frozen fear monster. Let it pet the cat. lol…
January 14, 2011 at 8:32 am
Elisa's Spot
gawwwwwd she peed in the carrier again on the way to the vet
the lovely vet said…she will probably do that every time now as she’s afraid she’ll pee SIGH
WHAT GOOD IS A FREAKIN BATH THEN!?!?
ROFLMAO
i bet there is some lesson in there about mother nature and messing about!
January 14, 2017 at 8:25 am
Elisa
lol oh the quality of my problems back then!