Those of you from So Cal are familiar with this scene. You are at the beach on a cool day in your sweater and Ugg boots enjoying the sun and scene and then you see the crazy people out swimming in the ocean in their bikinis and trunks. "Tourists. Must be from the Midwest." Well, the last two days I've been a part of the group known as the crazy people.
I grew up in South Dakota and Montana. I've seen temperatures of 50 below with the windchill. After being in California for 17 years I believe I am fully acclimated to that lifestyle. I do remember the cold fondly. I remember when I finally threw away my car windshield scraper. It took me two years of living in California to be able to even part with it. My children have been in the snow twice. Once on a trip to Big Bear where we sledded in 58 degree temps and once in Reno the day we flew home. My son was too young to remember either of these. I may have been more excited then they were for this trip.
We boarded the plane with our snow coats and snow boots on in anticipation of the freezing cold we were expecting in Montana. People in the terminal who were from Montana and going home were in their flip flops. Five minutes into her movie on the plane L asked me if we were there yet and could I see any snow out the window. H kept looking out the window and saying in a voice with no volume control, "I think I see snow, Mom!" It was obvious to anyone around us that we were not returning home to Montana and we were not familiar with the snow. Then came the airport parking lot where my kids took off with shrieks of amazement to play in the frozen pile of dirt covered snow. It did not stop there. We decided to go to the college basketball game as soon as we got in and my Mom lives close enough so we can walk. I think my daughter covered twice as much distance as we did due to her up and down, back and forth, over any patch of snow or ice she encountered. We walked into the stadium in our full blizzard gear and began peeling off the layers and then carted all our gear up to our seats where my daughter got so hot she had to pull of the boots and socks. She would have taken off her shirt if I hadn't stopped her. I began noticing the other people in the arena were not as warmly dressed as us. Especially the women in the 4 inch heels but that's another story.
After bundling up for the return walk home we set off. It was cold so we weren't that overdressed but we were over excited. Every patch of snow was an amazing adventure. It took us three times as long to return to my Mom's place as it did to get to the game. The kids ran up and down the snow fields, purposely fell into the snow hundreds of times laughing and shrieking the entire way. A group of people walked by looking at us like "Wow! They are really enjoying the snow!" But not in the "isn't that cute" way. It was more in the "haven't they ever seen snow before" way. Yes, we are the crazy people.
Today we walked to the hardware store and bought two saucer sleds. While there my son found the display of car windshield scrapers and called out. "WHATS THIS?!?!". Yes, we're from out of town. We then walked back to the park near my Mom's to go sledding. There are patches of grass around the trees and the snow conditions were less than ideal but it was perfect for my kids who never see snow. I'm sure no self respecting Montana kid would have wasted their time with it. We had a blast. The total joy in their faces at every slide down is something I wish I could burn into my brain. People walked by laughing and smiling at them and our friends who were with us even said, "They are visiting from California".
In one person's face I saw something else. I saw a "Gosh, they are having fun, it just makes me happy to see them" look. The, "I love where I live." look. Makes me think that when I see those people swimming in the cold ocean next time I might not call them crazy.
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