A REMINDER WE DON'T LIVE IN SAINT LUCIA

“And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth...” (from Revelation 7:1)

Worcester radio station WSRS-FM 96.1 has been doing a major promotion from a resort in the Caribbean island of St. Lucia this week.  I’ve almost wanted to hit the morning D.J. and newsman as they’ve announced single digit temperatures (and subzero wind chills) from their Caribbean paradise where the daytime temperature virtually never goes below 70 and the nighttime temperature virtually never goes below 60.  Seriously, I’d love to be there in St. Lucia right now!

We’ve really had it pretty easy this winter with the temperature rising above 60 several times and even hitting 70 once or twice.  I guess we were due for single digit stuff.  How easy it is to forget a winter a few years ago where the typical daytime temperature was 2 below with wind chills of 25 below!  The WORST (coldest) winter weather I’ve ever seen was in Springfield, Missouri in 1977.  Several mornings in a row it was 10 below.  One morning it was 17 below.  I’ve never seen it colder than 4 below in Massachusetts.  We Bostonians probably don’t realize that the sea breeze actually keeps the arctic air WARMER.  In Springfield, Missouri the arctic air is as raw and biting as it is in Yellowknife, NWT, Canada!  Missouri has a shorter winter than Massachusetts does, but it can be brutal.  This year, with Springfield’s most DANGEROUS and DAMAGING winter on record, is a case in point.  I guess there is no “typical” winter in the 48 contiguous states, though.  When my daughter Amy and I visited Springfield, Missouri in February of 2002, the temperature was running in the high 60s the whole time we were there!

My late mother believed that the more you focus on the weather and the more you complain about it, the worse it gets for you.  She thought if you would get your mind on something else, things would not be so bad.  I’ve used that theory for summer heat and humidity, and at least to a degree (no pun intended) it has helped.  Friday was the coldest morning in probably over a year.  It was 9 degrees in Framingham...not subzero, but bad enough.  Last night it hit zero in southside Framingham.  Inside the church building, much of the day the temperature was under 60.  I found that if I didn’t think about it, it helped.   I am grateful to have heat, electricity, and hot and cold running water.  I am grateful to NOT be homeless.  I’ll be glad when it’s a little warmer, but I know it could be a lot worse!