How spoiled are we in South Florida?  Plenty spoiled!

Some folks are happy to finally get some cold weather here in South Florida, but many others are less than thrilled.  If you’re one of those who are complaining about the cold weather, let me put this into perspective for you.

Here is the current temperature in North Miami Beach:

Okay, so that’s a little chilly by South Florida standards.  The good news is that tonight won’t be as cold as last night, which dipped into the 40s.  Another cold front will pass through on Wednesday, and while we won’t have our typical warm temperatures for the rest of the week, it’s still more than bearable.

For example, you could be here right now:

Yes, folks.  That’s International Falls, MINNESOTA!  Are you seriously going to complain NOW?  If so, I don’t want to hear it.

Although I was born in New Jersey, my family had the good sense to relocate to Florida when I was about four years old.  I do have a single memory flash of being in snow once before I left for the Sunshine State.  I was playing in my cousin’s front yard and trying to make a snowball with mittens on my hands.  But that’s all I remember about snow.  I don’t miss it.

When my son decided to go to Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, the first thing I said to him was, “You’re gonna freeze your ass off.”

The second thing I told him was, “If you become a Patriots fan, you’re disowned.”

Okay, so he didn’t freeze his ass off, but by his third year he finally admitted he’d had enough of digging his car out of the snow and scraping ice off his windshield just to drive the grocery store.  I restrained from saying “I told you so” because he promised to forever despise the Patriots.  He kept his promise.

I went to visit my son for Parents Weekend of the Freshman Class during October of 2005.  I had to fly into Albany, New York and drive an hour through the Berkshires to get to Williams College, which was located at the foot of the mountain range.  About halfway through the trip, I noticed some patches of white stuff on the roofs and lawns of houses, but this Florida girl had no idea what it was.  When I asked my daughter about it, she said, “DUH! Mom, it’s snow!”  And I was like, “WTF?  It’s not even cold out!”  She told me to open the window, and DAMN if it wasn’t freaking freezing out there!  Um, yeah, I wanted to turn the car around, drive straight to the Albany airport and catch the next flight back to Fort Lauderdale.  Where I belong.

Just so you know, I stayed in Williamstown that weekend and froze my ass off, even though the temperature stayed well above the low forties while I was there.  When I finally made it home, I nearly kissed the ground at FTL, grateful for the typical October heat as I was peeling off the layers of clothing I had packed myself in.

A friend wrote to me this morning, “This weather is too much. I can’t feel my feet.  One can only wear so many pairs of socks without cutting off the circulation and defeating the purpose.  Trying hard to remember the agony of August.”

Yes, August in Florida can be brutal.  Especially if you’re not used to it.  Me?  I love it.  The heat is my friend.  Besides, no matter how hot it gets here during the dog days of summer, it’s nowhere near as savage as June in Tennessee, where summer temperatures regularly hit over 100 degrees.  At least we have the ocean breeze most of the time to make our summers tolerable.

I also won’t complain about the “cold” weather here because I know it will warm up eventually.  And because I truly am so grateful to be a “native” Floridian.  I wouldn’t want to live ANYWHERE else!

The moral of the story is this:  No matter how cold it is in South Florida, you will NEVER have to dig your car out of snow or scrape ice off your windshield.  They don’t call it the Sunshine State for nothing.  So stop your whining and ENJOY!

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”