The Weather

I remember when I was younger, people who talked about the weather, was something they did for polite conversation or filler with strangers that they didn't feel they had anything else in common with. I always imagined these conversations as, "Lovely day today." "Yes, it's getting colder." "I think it was winder this time last year."

Now that I am older however, I realize that the weather conversations I have are with the same group of strangers in which I have very little in common. However, my conversations about this topic are nothing short of enthusiastic and astonishing. I find myself waiting to pick up Cody from preschool, talking to people about my decision methods on how to dress the kids or my incorrect decision to leave my sweatshirt in the car. I also tell the story of my astonishment of how myself being a Cali Gal, will never get used to wearing short and t-shirts in 90 degree weather and still have to carry an umbrella.

The other part of this equation, is how excited the people on the other side of this conversation get. They vigerously nod their head and trade tales. "I hate winter here, it's a damp cold." whatever that means... "And the kids have to wear their big heavy coats and their lockers are not even big enough to hold their coats, so they leave them behind and just freeze at the bus stop." I have since learned that winter coats seem to cause the most clutter in the slow winter months in Cape May, NJ.

And when I step away from this converstation, I feel as though we have had a bond. We now share this common phenomenon of questionable dressing of ourselves and our children according to the laws of nature.

Sunny time, sunny times! So when we advise our children to keep their comments to the weather, as in sense and sensibility by my beloved Jane Austin... don't think of this as sending out children to sheild their feelings and restrain their feeling to idol chit chat. No, speak on the weather, delight in the glory of the shared experince that is given to us from mother nature and bond with your fellow earthlings.