WV to NY to HI to VA: Its all about what you are used to.

Before Travis came into my life, I lived in WV.  I had visited other states, but I had a house, a good job, and great friends all around me, so I had no desire to ever live anywhere else.  I was happy.  I really thought I would retire from my job at the phone company and grow old with all my friends and family.  Then the love bug bit me.  Boy did it sink its teeth in and bite hard.  It didn't take long until I realized that I would live under a bridge with this man if I had to, as long as we were together.  Granted, life as a troll under a bridge may not have been fun, but at least we would have each other.  He was stationed in NY and property of Uncle Sam.  I was was thinking NY sounded scary,but fun, and I didn't belong to the phone company, so I was able to quit my job and follow this whole love thing. 

We got married, packed everything up and headed to upstate NY, Ft. Drum to be exact.  It was summer time, so I was naive and did not realize that when people talked about a foot of snow at a time, that they really meant it.  Shortly after getting to NY, I got a job at Sprint.  I figured I used to do landlines, now I will do wireless.  After all, how different could it really be?  THANK GOD for the wonderful people I worked with who were very patient with me, because if you haven't guessed, there is a HUGE difference.  Anyway, my new friends/co-workers were telling their stories about winter, the cold, snow, etc... etc... etc... and I really didn't believe them.  However, I did not have long to wait - see winter comes early in the North Country, and it does get really cold, and there is also tons of snow, etc.... etc... etc...

I remember hearing their stories and getting a little anxiety ridden about it all.  I was at home one day and I was flipping through the stations on the TV and I found a news program.  It was probably towards the end of October or so, and I saw the weather man predict negative numbers for that night.  I was stunned!!!  I knew that everyone at work said that when it came, it came hard, but would it really come that fast?  Needless to say, I was really worried.  I called Travis at work, hysterical, to let him know and express my concerns, and he got really quiet for a minute and then started to laugh.  Little did I know that being only a few miles from Canada, that we picked up the Canadian stations and I was really seeing the weather reported in Celsius and not Fahrenheit.  LOL!  It didn't take long though, and the NY weatherman was predicting the same weather, and it was not Celsius this time.

I tell everybody that they do not know what cold is until they walk outside their house and it literally hurts to breathe, and that is when you are breathing through a scarf because there is no way in you know where that you would expose your skin to those elements.  After all, -30F HURTS!!!!  The Sprint store was located in the mall, so it was possible to go to work and the roads were clear, and then come out of work and your car was buried in snow.  Believe it or not, it was the first time I truly used the whole packing list of safety items to always keep in your car during the winter. 

Fast forward a few years down the road, several Columbia jackets, lots of winter snow boots, and blah blah blah.....and we have orders to Hawaii.  The day that we left NY for HI, there was a huge blizzard dropping over 10 ft of snow.  We sat in the airport for 13 hours before we even stepped on a plane.  Luckily, we were able to fly south and then across the US.  With delays and layovers, all total it took us 37 hours to make it to Hawaii.(Oh - did I mention that by this point in our journey that I am 6 months pregnant!!  That made traveling really fun!)  We exited the plane wearing pants, boots, heavy socks, layers of shirts, and holding our Columbia coats good to -30F.  We see the ocean, palm trees, and a blazing hot sun.  By the time we got our luggage and got to the hotel, I thought we were going to pass out from heat exhaustion.....it was 70F, but with all our NY cold weather gear, it felt like 120F.

We have lived on this little island now for 4 years.  I have a baby boy who has the forever sun tan and the brown hair that has blondish sun kissed tips.  He doesn't know cold and only see snow on the TV.  We have also become very climatized to this weather.  We love going to the beach in January and playing in the water all year long.  The temperature is pretty constant here, and will only get a little chilly in the winter time at night.  Just the other day, it dropped all the way down to 66F.  I was so cold that I had on my winter clothes I brought from NY and the heater on in my car.  If the temperature drops below 70, I want a sweater now.  I know it may sound ridiculous to all my friends in NY and WV, who are right now experiencing snow and bitter cold, but it is really all about what you are used to.

We now have orders to move to Virginia.  We will be arriving in the winter time, which I am sure is very cold (well to us anyway) and there will be no more playing in the water all year long, unless you count the bathtub and a heater in the bathroom.  I have a feeling that we are in for a big shock and will be missing our forever summer island the first time we slide down the road on some black ice, or have to scrape the ice off the car windows.  But then again, when the love bug bit me, it also bit a guy who is nice enough to let me stay in the warm house while he goes outside to warm up the car and scrape the windows. 

When it is all said and done, whether it is hot or cold, I thank God everyday for love bugs.