It never occurred to me that I would ever utter the words "I can't wait until the weather gets warmer."
But that is exactly what I've been saying the last few weeks. The recent cold spell almost did me in. People say your blood thins out in a warm climate, but I've only been here two years. Wouldn't it take longer?
I've lived where the sun often didn't shine - including San Francisco, New York and London - and I wasn't affected by the cold or lack of sunshine. For six years I lived in Albuquerque, where I looked forward to the beauty of the season's first snowfall. I loved watching Charlie run through it and leave footprints.
Maybe I'm jaded, but snow no longer thrills me. When the snowstorm hit on Feb. 20, I was talking on the phone, something I do a lot of, and it was raining. During the conversation, I said to my friend, "Wow, the rain has turned to sleet." Not long after that I shouted into the phone, "I can't believe this, but it is now snowing, and it is sticking."
Sometime later, it stopped and the sun sort of came out. Taken aback by the snow on my patio, I was pleased the storm had passed. Shortly after the snow melted, I was shocked to see it was snowing again, reminding me of a blizzard in Siberia. The yard was again covered in snow. Neither I nor my dogs could believe our eyes.
Waking up to a winter wonderland the next day seemed unreal. Cactus covered with snow? The sun reappeared and the snow was soon gone. But it was still cold out. When I whined about the weather to a friend, she reminded me how much I grumbled about the heat the first summer I lived here.
"Now you're moaning about the cold. You need to find a place that has a temperature of 70 degrees all year long," she said.
"You're right," I replied, laughing. "I could return to Manhattan Beach in California if I had millions of dollars and could stand the horrible Los Angeles traffic."
"Two big obstacles," she replied gleefully.
"Listen," I said in my defense, "I don't think I hated last summer. We even had some rain."
"You're a piece of work," she groaned, before getting in her last words: "Just don't nag that you can't stand the heat when the temperature rises."
Living in Arizona sure is an adventure! Blizzards, monsoons, sweltering summers and haboobs. Who knows what comes next?
On StarNet: Read recent columns by Alexis Powers at azstarnet.com/alexispowers
Email Alexis Powers at northwest@azstarnet.com
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