Just like that, suddenly it's 70+ degrees in the dead of winter here in New England. We know it won't last, but this is an opportunity to have a touch of summer in the midst of high heating bills and icy temperatures. This is a chance to get outside in tee-shirts and flip-flops.
I decide to do something I haven't done in a while: Take a walk.
It has been hard to take any walks other than snowshoeing because the sidewalks spend the winter turning into sheer ice patches as temperatures stay well-below normal for extended periods of time. Walking down to the corner pizza parlor becomes an exercise in agility, balance, and prayer.
Today, though, except for melting snow piles in various parking lots, it's as if winter never happened. The sun is shining, and so are people's attitudes. I fill up my water bottle, put on a tee-shirt and capri pants, then head outside.
I don't know where I'm going exactly, so I retrace my steps a few times. I decide against walking through the prep school campus because NO strangers should be on school campuses these days. NOT ONE. Instead, I walk past the shops, toward the prep school, turn, go up a big hill, jog down the other side, circle around, cross the street to avoid the tree-limb trimmers, cross back, zigzag through the park, head north again then turn south a block or two over, cut through the alley, yell at a woman who is stopped in her car and texting while blocking the crosswalk, then jog down another hill toward my house.
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Once home, I open windows to let in the air -- fresh and a little too warm, but a welcome relief just the same. It feels like summer, it looks like spring, but it still smells like winter. Not surprisingly, winter returns tomorrow as temperatures drop steadily, bringing snow and freezing rain back, allowing February's reality to smack us back to our senses.
Just like that, suddenly the thermometer goes down twenty degrees. By morning, it will be down another thirty. Goodbye, Summer, it was so nice of you to visit. Don't be a stranger!
