If, when everything thaws this Spring,
you happen to see a right ear and part of a lower lip lying somewhere
on the street, would you please pick them up?
They're probably mine.
I can't believe how cold it was when I
went out running this morning. Of course, I can't believe that I
actually went out running this morning in a windchill of about 150
below, but I did. In a concession to the weather I did actually wear
long pants (several layers of long pants, in fact), but I did go out
running. Call me crazy, if you'd like. You wouldn't be the first
person to do so.
It's probably a good thing schools
aren't in session this week, either. After all, with cold like this,
I'm assuming schools would be shut down for the entire week anyway.
And that got me to thinking. I really do not wanna sound like one of
those people who start off every sentence with the phrase “Back
when I was a kid”, but (ahem) back when I was a kid, I don't
remember having school canceled because of something like the bitter
cold we're currently experiencing. I remember being at school on
days when the air was frigid and the wind chills were extreme. In
all honesty, I don't recall if the conditions were as harsh as they
are now, but it seems to me like they were, and yet I was still in
school.
Now, though? Not so much. At least it
doesn't seem like it.
I realize that there are legitimate
(and very good) excuses for keeping schools closed when it's colder
here than it is at the South Pole (seriously...McMurdo Station at
Antarctica has been warmer than Marquette the past two days). I
mean, the fact that I seem to have lost two parts of my body while
out running today is basically the best reason for closing schools.
Still, though, it just seems (at least to me) that they close and
cancel things quite a bit more than they did (ahem) back when I was a
kid. I don't know if it's true, I don't know if my perceptions are
just askew. But all through my life—when I was a kid, and now that
I'm what passes for an adult—I just seem to think that many more
things went on as normal despite the bad weather.
Like I said, I don't know if that's
actually the case or if my perceptions have been warped by whatever's
been warping my brain since I was young. But I tend to think that it
might actually be the case. After all, if I'm stupid enough to go
out running on a day so cold that you lose body parts, I must've
picked up the habit somewhere, right? There must be something in my
brain that tells me it's okay to go out on a day when the wind
chill's around 150 below.
Well, it's just a thought. Hopefully,
some day soon, it'll start to warm up, and we won't have to ponder
things like butter temperatures and the cancellations they cause.
Hopefully, some day soon, I'll be able to run without losing parts of
my face. After all, with only one ear and no more than one and half
lips left, I'm rapidly running out of body parts left to fall off.
8-)
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