It is only fair to send an informal apology to everyone who flew to Florida this month in hopes of escaping the cold, because they were unsuccessful.
When I woke up to the “Feels like 27 degrees” notification on my phone, all I wanted to do was stay in my bed a little longer. I snoozed my alarm, and when I did leave, I sat in my car until it heated up. But then I realized: if I did not like the cold, I had to do something about it. Another cold front could be on the way toward South Florida next week, this time with wind-chill temperatures potentially dropping back down to the mid-40s.
Miamians typically are not supposed to scrape ice off their windshields or layer sweatshirts like we are preparing for a blizzard. We brag about having the occasional cold front and wearing a light jacket at most. Yet here we were, bundled up, checking the weather app and kissing the “UV 9” goodbye for the entire month.
Yet sitting in my car waiting for the heater to catch up made me realize I could either keep complaining about the weather I could not control, or I could adjust to it.
So, I decided to do something about it, as everyone who is struggling with the cold should. I wore leggings under my sweatpants, and I left the house earlier. I stopped pretending that living in Miami makes me immune to the cold and its discomfort.
Most importantly, I stopped acting like inconvenience is the same thing as hardship. Across the United States, people navigated January and February in below-freezing temperatures, facing slippery roads and dangerous winter storms as part of their everyday lives. In places like Chicago and Minneapolis, January temperatures fell below zero and felt like below 20 degrees.
Further east, cities like Buffalo, N.Y., had to endure lake-effect snow that buried cars overnight and closed schools for days. In mountain states such as Colorado, highways shut down during heavy snowstorms, and drivers must plan their trips around road conditions. For many families, winter also means rising heating bills, frozen pipes and the constant awareness that a simple commute can turn dangerous in an instant.
In light of this, I made an effort to romanticize the cold. I brought my cat inside, got Starbucks, watched winter movies with my friends and pretended the 40-degree Miami winter was the winter wonderland we grew up seeing on television. And while, unfortunately, it is not, it is only fair to romanticize it as if it were.
I cannot wait to do it again as we hit another cold front.
