Love-hate relationship

We Canadians have at least seven months of winter… The way I feel about cold weather is a love-hate relationship. First, I loved the fall colors, the temperature dropping, the first days of snow, the Christmas decorations. Until we got to January. Then I hated the snow storms, below freezing temperatures, the salt on the streets. The white snow merging into mud in the sidewalks is an appropriate symbol.

The first winter

The first winter was the worst. We didn’t quite know how to behave in the cold weather. We practically hibernated like the grizzly bears do. I sometimes looked out of our window. I saw parents going out with their kids. It seemed like a regular day for them. They would sit in the snow and play like they did in the sand. It took me some time to understand that if we didn’t do that, we would live in our cave. We would be missing out life.

The next winters

Little by little we felt more confident and started exploring more. We made snowmen, went to parks, did trails, went skiing. Some winters are harsher than others. This year, for example, we had lots of snow. But it didn’t prevent us from changing the tires and driving the car to some new places. Even now, by the end of May, we have temperatures around 4°C (39°F). If we don’t accept that this is our life now, we are not going to enjoy it. Every winter it gets a little bit better.

Summer is coming

Today I saw this in a random TV ad:

“When summer finally hits Québec…
we have to make the most of it
Come live it with us.”

We surely value summer. It’s so fleeting, we really have to make the most of it. But so we have to make the most of winter, even it being a love-hate relationship. Every passing year we are learning to put a little more love into it.