I’m sweating winter
I am getting ready for winter, which is really an existential exercise. I was once in NYC when it was 1 degree Fahrenheit. I know it will be colder than that at some point this winter, but I have no idea what that will be like.
I have spent hours at Fleet Farm and Scheels trying on gloves and hats and boots and jackets and it just makes me sweat. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not nervous about winter. I view it as a fun new challenge. But I put my hands, which tend to be warm, into these big huge gloves, with inches of insulation, and they start sweating. I think it might be rude to have sweaty hands in gloves I don’t buy. So I take them off right away. I bought a sort of thin pair of gloves, thinking that if my hands really are that cold, it won't be hard to find warmer gloves when I need them.
I ended up ordering a winter coat. I just couldn't equate how hot I felt in a coat in the store to how warm it would keep me outside in the cold. I went to a website that had the temperature ratings for each coat listed. I ordered one that is rated for -5 to -35.
I received the winter coat I had ordered on a day when it was 86 degrees outside, 72 inside my house. The coat is rated to be warm enough for -35 degrees. I tried it on and in a minute was dripping with sweat. I suppose this is a good sign. I have no idea how it will feel to wear it when it’s -2 outside, but inside at 72 it was really unbearable. My mom is laughing at me right now as I was the kid who would refuse to wear a coat in the winter and insist on wearing it in the summer. I know the coat she remembers. It was a red parka-style thing with fur trim. It was adorable. I loved that coat.
Shook my head at my daughter this morning, declaring herself ready for school in a tank top and shorts when it was 48 degrees (43 with wind chill factor) and drizzling. I did convince her to put on a coat and noticed she had some pants stuffed into her backpack. Perhaps she is feeling acclimated, as 48 is not particularly cold in the scope of what is possible here. Or perhaps she is just a naive Californian, expecting it to warm up once the clouds burn off. I only hope she does not attempt the same when the weather drops another 25 degrees, as it did between yesterday and today. Until it drops farther, I will just keep sweating as I do my best to prepare.
I am getting ready for winter, which is really an existential exercise. I was once in NYC when it was 1 degree Fahrenheit. I know it will be colder than that at some point this winter, but I have no idea what that will be like.
I have spent hours at Fleet Farm and Scheels trying on gloves and hats and boots and jackets and it just makes me sweat. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not nervous about winter. I view it as a fun new challenge. But I put my hands, which tend to be warm, into these big huge gloves, with inches of insulation, and they start sweating. I think it might be rude to have sweaty hands in gloves I don’t buy. So I take them off right away. I bought a sort of thin pair of gloves, thinking that if my hands really are that cold, it won't be hard to find warmer gloves when I need them.
I ended up ordering a winter coat. I just couldn't equate how hot I felt in a coat in the store to how warm it would keep me outside in the cold. I went to a website that had the temperature ratings for each coat listed. I ordered one that is rated for -5 to -35.
I received the winter coat I had ordered on a day when it was 86 degrees outside, 72 inside my house. The coat is rated to be warm enough for -35 degrees. I tried it on and in a minute was dripping with sweat. I suppose this is a good sign. I have no idea how it will feel to wear it when it’s -2 outside, but inside at 72 it was really unbearable. My mom is laughing at me right now as I was the kid who would refuse to wear a coat in the winter and insist on wearing it in the summer. I know the coat she remembers. It was a red parka-style thing with fur trim. It was adorable. I loved that coat.
Shook my head at my daughter this morning, declaring herself ready for school in a tank top and shorts when it was 48 degrees (43 with wind chill factor) and drizzling. I did convince her to put on a coat and noticed she had some pants stuffed into her backpack. Perhaps she is feeling acclimated, as 48 is not particularly cold in the scope of what is possible here. Or perhaps she is just a naive Californian, expecting it to warm up once the clouds burn off. I only hope she does not attempt the same when the weather drops another 25 degrees, as it did between yesterday and today. Until it drops farther, I will just keep sweating as I do my best to prepare.