Baby, It's Cold Outside!

We had been enjoying mild weather this winter, but all of that changed yesterday.  The temperature read 24 degrees when I was out shopping, but the windchill brought it down to 3 degrees.  I don't know if it was the wind or the fact that I wasn't quite used to winter weather yet, but either way I was absolutely freezing yesterday.  It didn't help that Doug was enjoying temperatures in the 70s this week in Ocala.  I definitely did a lot of complaining when he called last night, especially since the forecast for the next two days in Northern Indiana were highs in the low teens.

The cold weather and our eventual plans to move to Florida made me think a lot about our choice to live in the midwest thirty years ago.  All of the Heinisch children had talked recently about moving to the sunshine state in the next few years, and I wondered why Doug and I never thought about that when he was looking for a job.  My assumption was that we wanted to live closer to our families, but I don't remember ever talking about that.  Even when we moved out of Illinois, we never thought about going anywhere other than Indiana.  Once our children started kindergarten, Doug didn't want them to have to change schools.  Thus, we were here for the long haul.  

I don't second guess that decision, but I sure do wonder why winter weather was never a part of the decision on where to live.  When I was out shoveling this week, all I kept thinking about was how stupid it is to live in the north.  We aren't snow activity people, so we pretty much just stay inside during the winter and endure it the best we can.  Running to the grocery in the cold or snow, stinks.  Worrying about the car starting is annoying and having to drive on ice is awful.  I wish I could go back and tell my younger self how much I would not enjoy the winter weather when I got older, but that's obviously not going to happen now.  Therefore, I will just look forward to one day moving to where the winters are always mild and the snow is non-existent.  In all honesty if we had moved south in 1993, I would never be able to appreciate how good it will feel to say goodbye to winter forever.