Holiday Themes… and What’s Up With All This Heat?
Last year I posted about choosing a holiday theme. Inspired by Gretchen Rubin’s Happier podcast, I somehow convince my family every year to choose a holiday theme- usually a line from a song. Previous themes have included “Joyful and Triumphant,” “Laughing All the Way,” and “In the Bleak Midwinter” (that was for 2020, bleh.) Right now I’m thinking my theme for Christmas 2022 will be “The Weather Outside is Frightful.” SERIOUSLY. We just can’t seem to cool down here. I think every other part of the country has had some cool/cold weather, except South Florida. Usually by this time the humidity has dropped and we’ve seen overnight temperatures in the 50s and 60s, but not this year. And we’ve notice something odd- when it does get down to, say 70, people mention that it’s “cold.” Last week on the news they were showing the forecast, and it literally showed a low of 70 with the words “cold front.” I’M SORRY, BUT THAT IS NOT COLD. It’s not even “Florida cold.” Florida cold is 50s, and even occasionally, brrr- 40s overnight. This insistence that 70 is “cold” has led us to develop a theory… Our ongoing joke is that DeSantis has passed a law that all meteorologists must refer to 70 degrees as “cold” from now on, in an effort to convince people there is no climate change. We like this theory so much that we’ve almost started to believe it. On Thanksgiving morning, when we were heading to our race in the dark, my husband mentioned that he felt a little chilly. Then he quickly exclaimed “No, I’m not falling for his little plot! I believe in climate change! I just got a little chill.” Hee hee. All joking aside, you may be thinking: “Jenny. What in the world did you expect when you moved to Florida? Why didn’t you just move to Alaska if you dislike the heat so much?” Good question. I grew up near Chicago, and the winters were TERRIBLE. It wasn’t just the cold, the snow, or the wind, but it was so, so gray. By the time I was in high school I was suffering from SAD, except I didn’t know what it was back then. I’m not even sure the term “Seasonal Affective Disorder” had been invented. I just knew that I suffered from depression, mostly in the winter. I crazily stayed in the midwest for college, but then moved to Florida, and my life changed dramatically. My cycles of depression disappeared and I began to suspect that it was weather-related- but when I had the opportunity to move to New York City for work, I decided to try it. I LOVED living in New York- except for the weather. The first winter up there sent me into a major depression, and I had to face facts- I definitely have SAD. Still, I lived up there for several years, and also during that time worked in Germany- which, by the way, has similar weather to the US midwest- gray and depressing. Finally, I gave up and moved back to Florida. At the time I was thrilled with this decision, because being depressed for six months out of the year is no way to live. Also, the heat didn’t bother me. I welcomed it! I could go running at noon on a summer day, and it was no problem. Looking back, that heat tolerance was my superpower- Florida was the perfect home for me. Fast forward to my early 50s. One summer the heat REALLY started to bother me. This was around the time I went through menopause (coincidence? I think not!) It absolutely drove me berserk to have anything touching my stomach during a run on a hot day, and I was forced to run in shorts and a sports bra (also “coincidently” this was around the time where my stomach became my least favorite body part- go figure.) I also started to have trouble sleeping in the heat. We used to set out thermostat at 75 overnight, which I can’t even imagine now. I crank the AC down to 68 and I’m still too warm. In short, the heat makes me angry. It’s become a major issue on my runs. This is why I’m waiting and waiting for our winter cool down to come… the heat and humidity are stifling to me now. I fantasize about moving out of Florida- but it’s just not feasible right now with my husband’s job and my daughter’s school. And, I know I still have SAD. That will never go away, and I’m pretty sure mine is too severe to be cured by a SAD lamp. Maybe eventually I could move to…. northern Florida? Georgia? In the meantime, I’m sticking to my holiday theme of “The Weather Outside is Frightful.” But if we get our cool down, I’ll happily change it to “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” It’s the penultimate day of NaBLoPoMo2022! How exciting. Does anyone want to join me in choosing a holiday theme?