SO funny...!

Isn’t it funny how, in winter, people walk like stickmen? Limbs, which were once agile and flexible, are now rigid with the cold. Arms that used to wave at friends on the street are now like inflexible icicles, stiff at their sides. Legs like robots, not bending at the knees like normal human legs do. Oh, so comical to watch these people of the north.

I’m one of them. I admit it. I walk with such speed and intensity and rigidity in winter. The smallest amount of time required outside, the better! My shoulders get so tense some days. And after a particularly cold snap…can I call it a “snap”? It’s usually more of a cold season…a cold spell…a cold war, in my books. I bundle up as best I can, as does everyone else. But brr…it’s just…frigid!

Yesterday, as I was walking our dog, I noticed a person on a bicycle. I would say “man” or “woman” or “boy” or “girl” (on a bicycle) but they were so bundled up that it was impossible to tell gender or age. Once I could see the eyes of this mysterious person, I could tell instantly that it was someone I knew from church (a young-ish man, for those who must know). I smiled and greeted him as one greets someone you recognize, and only when the bicyclist was behind me did I realize that, to him, I was probably just a small, friendly pile of winter clothes. I happened to recognize his eyes, but only because I’m of the female persuasion who notices these things. He, most likely, had no idea who I was. I laughed a bit, and shrugged it off (as well as my chilled, stiff shoulders could) and continued my walk.

What a different world Canadian winters are. Everything is transformed. People become robots. Friends become a set of mysterious eyes. And the great outdoors? Well, it becomes something of a marshmallow world (made for sweethearts)…take a walk with your favorite girl/guy…but I warn you, I will probably laugh.