What I love about the cold and the heat

I adore summer. If someone were to permanently set the temperature at eighty degrees, I would have no complaints. Being a lifelong North Dakotan, we get precious few warm days, and by this, I mean that I have seen years where I am wearing hoodies well into June, only to break them out again by the end of August. In North Dakota, our winters take up most of the fall, and practically all of spring.

This is where July is the only month of the year on record that has never seen snowfall, and, just last April, Fargo experienced a tornado warning one day and snowfall the next. All you other Upper Midwest dwellers know what I’m talking about.

North Dakota weather is unpredictable at best, and ridiculous at worst.

Due to the majority of the year being spent on jackets and hats, I savor every moment of sunlight in the summertime. I love being able to slip on a pair of flip-flops without the hassle of all the proper winter clothes. I love taking long walks without freezing my fingers off.

I love long runs outside, reading on the back patio, and the extra hours of daylight (anyone else annoyed at driving to work or classes in the dark, only to do it again by the end of the day?) I love not having to defrost my car every morning and having roads free of ice and slush.

Yet, for all summer is, and all the perks of warm weather and sunshine, there is a simple beauty to winter. There is nothing that compares to watching snowflakes dance from the sky on a cool dark evening or the gently frosted tree branches that lace the roads on my way to campus.

Snow, in a sense, is its work of art.

It paints over all the brown left behind by fall and melts into green once spring finally makes its way around. Despite the cold, the terrible driving, and the lack of sunlight, winter is a time of anticipation, knowing what lies ahead and looking forward to the day we can all sport our sandals and tank tops once more.

We can have all the summer nights we want, driving with the windows down, blasting our favorite tunes, with a magnificent sunset as our backdrop, but who can honestly turn away an evening curled up on the couch with blankets and popcorn and a movie on TV?

Who can pass up a good book on a snowy day, or hot coffee in cold hands during a chilly sprint to your next class?

There is something beneficial to be said of these times, too, times spent relaxing indoors and catching up on hobbies that somehow seem to slide to the bottom of our priority list when friends reunite over summer vacation and we pick up more hours at work. While the outside world takes a break to rest up, we do the same, in a sense.

It may just be me, but even with school in session, snow has more benefits in the art of relaxation.
With all this in mind, I would still take my eighty-degree days year-round in a heartbeat. Because when all is said and done, I feel I would appreciate a milder climate more after living my whole life in the wonderful Upper Midwest.