You gotta appreciate what you do have.

I have a confession: I LOVE the cold. I love wearing more clothes, I love the feeling of going into a warm building after freezing just the right amount, I love just a crack in my window being enough to counteract an overzealous heater. The cold is the best and you cannot convince me otherwise.

Which is why I was so confused when I saw people complaining about the glorious weather today. What is wrong with you people? The sun’s out! It’s a beautiful day! What more do you want?

I think a lot of the consternation has come less from the presence of light and more the temperature, but I invite you to consider that having the sun out while it’s cold is kind of a miracle. I’m from the Pacific Northwest – if it’s cold, you’re getting rained on, or at the very least you’re not getting your vitamin D for the day. I fell in love with these chilly, sunlit days during my first year here, and while I worried it would wear off with the novelty, that love hasn’t waned since.

We live in a world of opposites colliding, a world of seemingly diametrically opposed concepts crashing into each other to create something unique. Isn’t it amazing to get to live a day with the sunlight of June and the temperatures of January? Shouldn’t we be thankful that nature has decided to give this day to us? I think we’d be happier if we were.

So next time we’re fortunate enough to get a day like this, I entreat everyone to grab your coat, grab your sunglasses, grab your mask (or two!), find a spot on Low Beach, and think to yourself: how lucky am I to get to live a day of opposites, where nature has decided to show me that the light of summer and the chills of winter can coexist together, and can make something beautiful together.

Image via Bwog Staff