I spent most of my growing up years in the frozen climes of Minnesota and when I came to BYU as a new college student (30ish or so years ago), I considered Utah winters to be way on the wimpy side. I remember getting all bundled up in my winter clothes at the first sign of winter and being a sweaty mess by the time I got to campus. I remember crying literal tears when I had to put my winter coat back on when I headed home to Minnesota at the end of the semester.
But then I spent the next quarter of a century living on the East Coast (that would be Virginia for 20 years, Maryland for 2-1/2, and Pennsylvania for 2 years, in case you're keeping track). The Mid-Atlantic region is a land of four seasons that stick pretty close to where they're supposed to be on the calendar. The summers were certainly hot and humid, but the falls and springs were mild and gorgeous, and the winters cold, but not too cold. I'll be the first to admit that we definitely complained about the weather sometimes, but, honestly, I grew to believe that Mid-Atlantic weather was the way seasons are supposed to be.
Then we moved here to Utah and I had this naïve notion that, besides the lack of humidity, that the weather was pretty similar to out East. But I remembered wrong. Springs and falls here seem to last all of a couple weeks, while the summers and winters are intense and long. I know I'm tainted by my 25 years of living with 4 seasons and a lot of people love the long winters here, but the weather is just one more thing that's made it a bit of a tough adjustment for me here.
I'm trying to embrace and enjoy the fact that I live in a place where it starts snowing in October and our morning walks most of the way through November were in sub-20 degree temps, but I am struggling a bit. I find myself checking the weather app and nostalgically reminiscing on what it was like to have temps in the 50's most of the way through November.
When it turned wintry in October this year and we had our first real snowstorm at the beginning of November, I'll be honest that I was pretty annoyed at being gypped of my proper 3 months of fall.
But, trying to see the bright side of things, we did discover that snow and fall leaves do make for a picturesque combination...
We took a little trek up the canyon and enjoyed walking around for a bit...
I especially was enamored with the snow on the brightly colored leaves...
And the beauty of it did make my heart happy...
But then I was ready for fall to come back again....
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