Cold

After 3 years living in sunny Los Angeles, last year I moved to Boston. Muggy in the summer, crisp in the fall, bright in the spring, and brutal in the winter Boston.
I thought that this past summer, full of humidity and heat waves was the worst. I was wrong. I thought last winter was bad, with its occasional day of freezing wind was the worst. I was wrong.
It is only the beginning of January and already I am ready to pack up and move anywhere that winter no longer exists. December was mostly a month of snow. On the 13th I walked home through knee high snowdrifts, weaved in an out of cars seemingly frozen in place after hours on the road, and watched the snow blanket my entire neighborhood. That Sunday I trudged through yet another snow storm that heaped another several inches of blindingly white snow on what had already fallen earlier that week. All the while, thoughts of old men complaining "I used to walk 20 miles to school in the snow" echoed in my head.
It eventually stopped snowing and I was rewarded. The snow turned to ice. Cloudy off white and imperfect ice in piles along the road. Shiny clear ice slicking the sidewalk. And dark dangerous black ice just waiting to cause a car accident...or slip an unsuspecting and ill-shod pedestrian. (I know from experience)
The days would warm up, 30's and sometimes 40's. The ice would liquefy and coat the streets. As dark fell, so did the air temperature and all that water would freeze, making the walk to work that much more treacherous.
I'm actually impressed I haven't broken a bone yet, though I'm pretty sure I've twisted an ankle or two.
And all this, all this was almost bearable till now. According to weather.com, it is 9 degrees, but it feels like -6. It took almost 15 minutes for my legs to thaw once I got to work this morning. Any inch of exposed skin felt scrubbed raw by winds that rushed through my pants like water through a sieve. The ground was still covered in ice, but this ice was so cold, so brittle that it crushed like glass under my feet. The cold was so intense that it froze the air and sound didn't seem to carry. Even inside, all I had to do is walk past one of our large plate glass window to start shivering again. The walk home wasn't as bad, but it is 10 pm and my bones have yet to warm up. Living in a converted attic apartment doesn't make for a room tightly sealed against the elements and even 2 pairs of socks, a hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants have made me cozy.
Thankfully it is supposed to warm up again tomorrow. Not much, but enough to make being outside bearable. And yet, in just a few months, I'll be walking to work, sweat pouring down my back, breathing in the thick heated air of a New England summer...dreaming of the same streets, lined with leaf bare trees, silently coated in white.