So we’re spoiled. I candidly admit that I am and if you are honest about it, you probably are, too. I’m talking about the weather, folks.

I’ve wondered time and again—how do people up north survive winter? Here it is, only half way through January and I’m wholly done with it all. Have to agree with what I heard someone say the other day. Went something like this—”Okay, Christmas is over, I’m ready for spring now.”

I really have tried not to complain and count my blessings these past couple of weeks. After all, just turn on the TV and see what is happening in the northern region of the country.

But, goodness gracious, most of us consider Virginia to be a southern state; we are just not used to or supposed to have days and days of single-digit temperatures. (Tell that to the folks in Jacksonville, Florida where early January temps were lower than they were in Anchorage, Alaska.)

I’m well aware there are people who feel quite the opposite. They are winter people who love the snow, enjoying outdoor sports like skiing and snowboarding, making trips to locations which offer those activities.

I envy their adventurous spirit. And I do like snow—the kind where I don’t have to go anywhere and watch it fall outside my window as I snuggle into my fleece blanket in front of the fireplace, all the while reading a good book and sipping hot chocolate.

Several friends in our area moved here from “up north” in recent years. Our neighbors are from Vermont. During the recent frigid weather, both of our water supplies froze the same day. I teased them that they probably thought they’d moved away from that mess.

I asked another friend who transplanted to Patrick County about the length of winters where she lived before. She joked that it lasted nine months, then they had mud season followed by two weeks of summer. (My complaints keep getting smaller.)

I remember my reaction a couple of years ago when we’d had a long cold spell and the forecast was for another week of extreme-chill temps. Suggested to my husband that we hook up the camper and head south.  He laughed and asked exactly where we were going. I told him I didn’t care, to just drive until we hit warm weather.

We didn’t do so then, but this year it may be more than an empty threat.

Ah, winter weather. What to do but learn to live with it. And in my case, try not to grumble too much. In the immortal words often attributed to Mark Twain: “Everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it”.