Feeling Smart

It's not really cold here.

I went to Barnes and Noble today and a woman came out with a small boy in her arms as I walked in. She snuggled him up to her saying, "Oh! It's so cold outside! I'll keep you warm!"

It wasn't all that cold.

I know it's all relative. And it's all what you get used to feeling...

But really.

In Tucson I felt cold all "winter". I guess I got used to feeling like I was in a warming oven the rest of the year. Maybe I forgot how to dress for normal weather after being so careful to wear layers in Alaska. It wasn't until I lived in Alaska that I realized that jeans are really not warm pants. Growing up in Tennessee, I wore jeans to play in the snow in winter. I thought they were clothes for cold weather. Ha.

Now in South Carolina it's not really cold. It's cool. It can feel kind of cold with the wind blowing and in the shade... Okay. Maybe I'm exaggerating a little.

The last few mornings have been chilly. Like 20's and 30's chilly. And while I did make sure that each child in the house had an appropriate coat for those temperatures, the children did not pay attention to me showing them which coat was to be worn by which child.

Julia wears a coat that was handed down from neighbors in Alaska years ago. It's probably now her size, but it's not the warmest of her options. Alan had been wearing a light knit jacket until the last few days when he's apt to put on the light jacket, his warm winter coat with fleece lining and top it off with a down vest. And then there's Holly.

Holly's lightweight fleece was eaten by the dog last spring. Her heavier fleece that lines her winter coat was left on the playground and never recovered last winter. And she just refuses to wear the puffy winter coat in her size that I saved especially for her. I replaced her lightweight fleece pullover with a slightly heavier one from Once Upon a Child recently She won't wear it. It's too hard to get off.

So tonight while they were at choir practice I converted the pullover to a zip up fleece. I feel so smart. I'm going to relish the feeling until tomorrow morning.

When she'll put on some little sweater or two and come up with some other reason why my fleece is not worthy of her attention. But for now I will marvel on how lucky I was to have a separating zipper in the perfect length and a suitable color just waiting in my stash. It's almost a good reason to keep my stash up. Almost.