Doesn’t it get cold there?

We nod and pull long faces. “Yeah, it does.” We walk away feeling tough and stoic.

We don’t confess that when the ice comes on we hope for cold that will give some thickness to the ice, then we hope for snow and more snow, then more cold. 

We’re not hard and long-suffering.

We’re a bunch of kids.

We pull on long johns, mukluks, mittens. Then we go outside and PLAY.  We jump on skis or snowmobiles or snowshoes and look for adventure. We cozy up inside a heated icehouse or sit down on an overturned bucket and hope that a big fish will check out the little fish we have on the end of our fishing line.  We hook dogs up to a sled and let them run. We use our kids as excuses to go careening down a hill on an inner tube or a plastic sled. We play hockey or just plain skate. We build snow caves, pitch canvas tents, or maybe just roll up in bedding under a lean to and watch the stars’ slow spin. 

Spring comes and we think, “How come I didn’t get that closet cleaned out this winter?”

“Why didn’t I get my files organized?”

“What the heck did I DO all winter?”