A couple of years ago, I remember the meteorologists warned the upcoming winter was going to be brutal.
They talked about the now notorious "Polar Vortex" and record breaking cold.
I looked at the temperature every morning before I walked my 2.7 miles to work, and I steeled myself, but it was awful.
See, the route between Beverly and Salem includes a bridge, and not just any bridge, a big ass, almost 3/4 of a mile long bridge with some serious elevation.
In the summer it's a gorgeous way to see the harbor. In the early mornings, you can pause there and watch fishing boats bring in their hauls. In the winter time, no joke, I've seen birds fly into the railings and die.
The meteorologists are predicting this winter will see New England suffer another Polar Vortex.
It's not even solstice yet, and today the temperature never got higher than 26 degrees. It's going to be brutal.
And in some ways, I dread this.
I dread this because I already know, I bloody hate winter.
I hate the cold, the dry air, the slight scent of burnt metal in the air from the furnace.
I hate the static electricity that shocks me every time I touch a doorknob, but more than anything, I hate being stuck indoors. If I ever go on a murderous rampage, you can blame cabin fever and boredom for the bloodlust.
With all that being said, it is coming (insert Game of Thrones joke here), and there's nothing I can do to stop it. I have some idea of how miserable it will be. I know already there will be times that I can't stand it and think I am going crazy. There will be times that I want to move to Vanuatu and never see another snowflake again, but I will endure.
I am steeling myself.
Do you see where I'm going with this people?
There is something else we will have to steel ourself to endure for the next four years. A kind of "winter" if you will. We already know it's going to suck. Maybe we don't know the particulars, but we don't have to. The evidence is there, the predictions are in, and no matter how badly I want this winter to just skip us altogether, I don't think it's healthy to delude myself into thinking it will just miss us.
The thing is, I'm lucky.
I'm lucky as hell.
I don't have to walk across the bridge to get to work every day.
In fact, I don't have to be anywhere if I don't want to.
I can just stay inside and be safe and toasty warm with my baby.
I can pull the blinds and plug up all the drafts and turn up the heat pretending the cold won't touch me.
But that's cowardice.
And I don't want to teach my kid to be a coward.
I want to teach my kid to suit up, and step out the door, even when he knows it's brutal out.
And if I want him to do that, then I have to lead by example.
I need to cross that bridge at least a few times this winter.
I need to have difficult conversations and donate money to worthy causes, and stop letting people get away with casual, socially acceptable racism/sexism/homophobia/xenophobia/transphobia. I need to suit up step out and be brave.
It's okay to hate the cold.
But you can't hide from it, and you can't pretend it doesn't exist.
Because sooner or later it finds you, and if you aren't ready...well...just be ready.
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