By the time you read this, we’re supposed to be thawed out. But today, (Thursday), is the coldest day of the year so far. Since the snow storm Monday night, we’ve been living in a freezer.
The frigid cold slows all human activity down. That ancient hibernation gene kicks in and this old bear just wants to curl up in the back of my cave and sleep. The cold seems to take the air out of my car’s tires. It makes everything sound different; from the scrunch of my footsteps, to the pop of the rifles at the military salute at the cemetery, to the metallic ring of the shell casings hitting the ground.
Just breathing is like breathing into a paper bag; it takes a little more effort. Car doors and windows freeze shut. If you didn’t know it before, you now have intimate knowledge of your vehicles’ anti-freeze rating. Animals living outside are in danger. Getting them inside any kind of shelter raises the temperature 10 degrees.
The icy sidewalks and streets only melt with chemical assistance. Then it re-freezes when you’re not looking. When it’s this cold all outside moisture gets crystallized and falls to the ground. So my mom used to put a huge pot of water on the stove and let it simmer all day, replenishing it when it got down low. Now I follow in her footsteps. Even with pots of water put back into the air, my skin still feels dry.
Living in this kind of cold takes extra effort. It drains you. You only go outside if you have to. Our only consolation in Nebraska is that the weather will change. Sooner or later, our weather always changes. So we can hope that the frigid week we just lived through may be winter’s last attack. We’ve survived the coldest cold of this year and lived to brag about it. Survival may be what Spring is all about.
Grace & Peace,
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