Don announced yesterday afternoon that his sister, who lives near Boulder, Colorado, may have as much as 6 inches of snow today. Snow!! Oh, how I long for cooler weather. We so seldom get snow that my children don't even know how to play in it. I spent a few of my formative years in Belgium, where we had snow every winter (mixed with lots of rain, so it usually turned to slush within 24 hours or so). Both of my parents were raised in Canada and know just about all there is to know about snow. We were taught to make snowmen, snow angels, build forts, have snowball fights, eat snow when we got thirsty while out playing (and to avoid yellow snow like the plaque), and how to sled, sled, sled. My maternal grandfather, whom we visited after leaving the island of Taiwan to move to Belgium, took us kids out in his front yard and made the first snowman I had ever seen. He's gone now, and his house sold. But the memory of that snowman and the old man who made it with such love for his grandbabies is still fresh in my mind...fresh as the driven snow - aaaaah!
It's still so hot here, we all have to dress in shorts. I was thrilled last week when we had a rainstorm due to Hurricane Tammy passing nearby, and the temperature dropped as low as 69 during the day. Every year, we're still in shorts for Deanna's birthday and usually celebrate outside. It doesn't cool enough for long pants until November and often, in December, it's still too warm for pants. February is by far our coolest month and the only month, usually, there's any hope of snow. My birthday is St. Patrick's Day and by then, we're back in shorts again. So, at the most, we have 3 months of cool weather, but it's usually more like Fall than Winter.
My mother has spent the last 30-some years, since we've been in the South, longing to experience the change in seasons. The older I get, the more I long for it, also. It would be a dream to be able to feel the crispness of Fall and watch the leaves turn and begin to blanket the ground. Gradually, Fall would turn to Winter and snow would replace the blanket of leaves, softly protecting the earth from the cold temperatures. Spring would come and the snow would begin to melt, adding precious water to the watertable deep below the ground and preparing the soil for the flowers that are beginning to peek out. Summer would be hot and fun, bringing joys not felt in any other month, but would be limited for a few months before the process would begin over again. Instead, we have summer, hot summer, summer, cool summer, and winter.
At times when I'm discouraged about the heat and am beginning to wish I lived up north where I could experience all the seasons, I'll be in the checkout line at a clothing store or Kroger and the clerk or someone else in the checkout line will begin to share with me about their faith or their church. Down here in the Bible Belt, that's a very common occurrence. Nearly everyone has a love for the Lord and there are churches on practically every corner. Catholics live in harmony with the various Protestant denominations and churches of varying denominations bind together to have Vacation Bible Schools and to bring special concerts and programs of interest that one church alone might not be able to handle.
We might not have all the seasons here in Georgia, but we have a depth of love and devotion to our Lord that is rivaled by no other area of the country. When it gets right down to it, I'll choose the Bible Belt over weather any day of the week - and any season of the year.
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