How much deeper will it get?

How much deeper will it get?

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