For those of us who reside north of Tennessee, “winter” evokes memories of drinking hot chocolate by the fire after cutting down the Christmas tree, making snow igloos out of the huge snowdrifts at the end of neighbors’ driveways, endless scraping of the ice off of the windshield of our cars, and essentially spending 4-7 months dressed in an attractive ensemble of too many layers topped off with the least ridiculous hat we could find. (We probably still look ridiculous though.) I, like many northerners, have this awkward love-hate relationship with the winter season. If you just hate it you are absolutely miserable a good half of the year. If you love it you are most likely delusional or you grew up somewhere with an even harsher winter. Like Antarctica. But if you love-hate winter, you probably enjoy the beauty of fresh snow, sledding, and snuggling in a blanket by the fire but hate shoveling snow, getting your feet soaked in a puddle of slush, and digging through the driveway trying to find the morning newspaper. I fall into this category.
Therefore, if we are going to label my relationship with northern winters as love-hate, I suppose we would have to call my relationship with Florida winters something along the lines of “manic-depressive” or possibly even “paranoid schizophrenic”. At least up north you know what you’re going to get: six months of cloudy, cold, snowy darkness. Bring your parka, end of story. Down here, a day can start off at 32 degrees, jump up to 75 by the afternoon, and plunge back down to 40 by 8pm. This poses several problems.
First, what are we going to call this season? It has been designated “winter” and correctly so according to the axial tilt of the Earth and Western tradition, but do we really feel comfortable calling 75 degrees “winter”? Just something to think about.
Second, what are we supposed to wear? This is a serious question that I have heard more than one Floridian pose- it is cold enough to whip out your wool socks in the morning but by noon you are sure to be sweating and wishing you wore shorts that day. The solution is to either suffer being uncomfortable for part of the day or carry around half of your closet in your backpack so that you will be prepared for whatever the season brings. You might want to consider one of those rolling suitcase backpacks. They can hold more, and you are going to need it.
Third, how is my emotional stability and well-being going to be affected by this teasingly fickle Florida winter? To spend a balmy Saturday laying out by the pool only to be forced back under my electric blanket by a cold front sweeping through on Sunday is pure torture. We just want spring already! (Which, by the way, is more like summertime if you are from up north, while summer itself is more like living in or near the mouth of an active volcano. If you’re familiar with that sort of thing).
In the end, the happiness I feel when it’s sunny, warm, and breezy on a February afternoon on campus makes bearable all of the unpredictable fluctuations of the Florida winters. It may be short-lived, it may start to pour without a moment’s notice, but I’ll take what I can get. It’s certainly nicer than February weather where I’m from! The beautiful weather (most of the time at least) is just another one of my many reasons why it’s great to be a Florida Gator.
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Kendra Harmon
Class: Junior Hometown: Grayslake, Illinois Major: Food Science and Human Nutrition Specialization: Dietetics Involvement: Volunteer at Baby Gator, Undergraduate Nutrition Research, Gator For A Day Program, cooking class volunteer at the Gainesville VA, FSHN Club Hobbies: Running, cooking, reading, camping and hiking, going to see plays and spending time with friends After College: Plans to complete a combined Master of Science/Dietetic Internship program and become a registered dietician |
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