I have always been slightly bitter about
good weather. I don't know where the feeling came from, maybe it has to do with being
home schooled or living in
Alaska, I don't really know. But when the
sun is out, I am just a little less happy than everyone else. When the
sun is out, the
runners take to the
track, the
tennis players to the
courts, the
boaters to the lakes, the
basketball players to the
courts, and so on. But I am none of those.
When the
rain comes, and the
wind picks up and cuts through your
coat like a
knife, then everyone is cut down. No one wants to go outside to
weather the elements. Instead you are in
survival mode, your goal being to stay alive and healthy. One thing I say a lot is that "
There is no such thing as too cold, only insufficient clothing." I believe that, and I relish the
full conditions. I like the
windy dreary days much more than the
sunny days, because when the conditions get bad, you can tell
who you can trust.
I was hiking with a friend in the
Grand Tetons. We were at the end of a 20 mile hike, and we had reached the mouth of the
canyon we had explored. A storm had chased us down the canyon for hours, and had finally caught up to us. The
lighting exploded every minute, and the
rain hit our
ponchos hard. We were climbing down a
cliff that was so slippery if you took a bad step you could fall over 40 feet to the
rocky outcroppings below. I turned around to find my brothers gone, no where to be seen. The
thunder echoed down the canyon in a tremendous rumble like
the roar of a god. I turned to Justin and smiled, how often do you end up in this situation? He smiled back.
Every day is an
adventure. The weather determines how you handle each day. What fun is a bright and sunny day that makes you work to have adventures? In
full conditions, when your first thought is survival, just standing still is an exhilarating experience.