I was born in Wisconsin, grew up in Virginia and lived 5 years of my adult life in Germany. I am a jeans and sweater wearing, snow loving, fire-place warming kinda' girl. My birthday was always "snowed out" in January, I know what chapped lips are like from the cold, how the cold hurts your temples, what it is like to have to scrape ice off of your windshield and what black ice is. That is me! I love it, the smell of a wood burning fireplace, a snuggly sweater and a hot chocolate. Send me to Maine, I'd be happy to live there!
That is why living in Miami, especially during this time of year is just so plain ODD!!!
In no real order, here are some of my experiences adjusting to winter in a tropical climate...
1. Comment number 1 when shopping for my first apartment - "Where is the coat closet?" Miami homes simply DON'T Have coat or front hall closets!!! Now that is just plain Weird!
2. "Why are there pumpkins out in July?" I wonder on or around October 15th. Because of the warm weather, you have absolutely no internal season clock and my body was telling me it was summer and it was actually 2 weeks before Halloween! (Yes, they have to import both the pumpkins and Christmas trees down here and they cost a mint!)
3. "Why are these people wearing parkas, hats and mittens in 60 degree weather?" Yup, just like boarder-line northerners freak out and buy food for 4 weeks at the mere mention of a snow storm, true Miamian's think the end of the world is approaching when the temperature drops below 70 and pull out their one and only winter coat (which is normally 10 years old).
4. "Can I borrow your winter coat? I am going to North Carolina for a week." Since the coat to person ratio is about 1 coat for every 20 Miamians, we have a share system.... when you or any of your friends go to a cold weather climate, you start the phone tree to see who has one they can lend you and hope it both fits and is a neutral color.
5. "No Ex-Husband, our daughter CANNOT go skiing in Tennessee in jeans, knit gloves and a windbreaker." Native Miamians have absolutely NO idea what real cold is, they think it is that 60 degree temperature mentioned above. They go to cold weather areas Frightfully unprepared. It even happened to me when I wore my open toed sandals to Virginia for Christmas! What a shock getting off the plane! Open toed spikes don't do well on ice (note to self). We just don't register the temperature change.
6. "Why are all those palm trees wrapped in Christmas lights? Oh yikes, Christmas is NEXT Week!" Again, our internal weather season clock FAILS to warn us it is Christmas time and the external clues don't really jog our memory to realize that yes, Christmas Does occur even in the absence of snow and cold weather. Children hate this, it normally means fewer toys as apparently Santa is just as forgetful.
7. "You can't go to the office because of a SNOWSTORM? Where!?" as you speak to people from out of state on the phone. You look outside and have a very existential moment when you think you are speaking to someone who is in another reality. It just Can't Be that there are snowstorms here, in our own country, while you sit outside in shorts and flip flops. It is a very unsettling feeling as if you are somehow not connected to your country.
8. "Get the space heaters before they all sell out! The weather people are predicting night temperatures in the 40s!" Many many houses and apartments have absolutely NO heating system. When it actually does get cold for those few days a year, it can be quite frigid inside one of these poorly insulated, non-heated houses. It's just like old times, so cold you don't want to get out of bed in the morning! And you have flash backs of all of those winter school days, ug!!
9. "Let's go to the beach tomorrow" "What? It's Christmas Day!", "Yeah, but maybe we can see someone dressed up as Santa swimming!"
10. "What is a Snow Day, a day that it snows?" your child asks. "No it is a day that you get to stay home from school because it snowed." "They get to stay home every time it snows?! I want to move UP NORTH!"
Palm Tree Photo Curtesy of Lucy Huntzinger
Santa Photo Curtesy of SantaPaul
Owner/Broker, GRI, TRC, QSC
cell: 786-252-4970
email: janie@papillonllc.com
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Janie- Very funny post. I make sure to rub it in to my family in Virginia about our weather when they are getting snow storms. Of course we still get cold here, in fact today was freezing (30 something as low), wish our low was on 60!