November 5, 1986
I put if off as long as possible, but this week I finally gave in. I got out my winter clothes.
I guess I’m just not a winter person. Oh, I like to watch the world turn into a fairy land with the first snow of the season – as long as I can watch through the window from a cozy house. Ice hanging from the trees in the early morning sun is a beautiful site as long as I can keep the car in the garage. But after those first few moments, reality sets in and we have to put antifreeze in the car, find our gloves, scarves and boots and shovel snow.
I leave the antifreeze to my husband and the snow shoveling to my sons but finding the gloves etc. has fallen to me. Rule number one at my house is don’t buy “good” (meaning expensive) gloves, hats or scarves. That’s because the chances of still having them a week later is almost nonexistent.
When they have a blue light special on gloves I’m the first one in line. I don’t worry much about the color or style. It has been suggested to me that I buy all the same style and color so when one is missing we can still use the glove which remains. Forget it! At our house we always lose the same glove so at the end of the year I could give you a box full of left hands (or rights, whichever the case may be).
As for scarves and hats, we don’t exactly lose them. They disappear soon after the cold weather sets in only to reappear with the spring thaw. Last week I could have placed my hands on a half dozen knit caps but by the end of this week the only ones still in sight will be the ones that no longer fit.
When the kids were little I purchased boots. We went through the pull over shoe variety and then the shoe boot style. As they grew older the attitude about boots changed. Our daughter continues to wear boots although they are not water or snow proof and are designed more for fashion than for comfort.
Our sons are another story. For those of you with young boys I’ll let you in on a secret. Once they reach their teen years you will be lucky to get them into anything except a pair of tennis shoes. It is definitely not “in” to wear boots as rain gear. For snow it is acceptable if you are going skiing or participating in some other arctic sport. Walking a half mile to the bus stop does not qualify.
You may be able to sell your son on boots as a shoe particularly if it looks like a tennis shoe. In that case you must resign yourself to the fact that he will wear them all day, no matter how hot the building or how pastel the carpeting.
We have now reached November and the arrival of winter is almost a certainty. Although I have found my winter coat, etc. My sons are still waiting for the first below freezing, snowy day. Then with three minutes left to catch the bus I will hear about gloves with no mates, the lost hats and the boots which no longer fit. Of course, even if I could go to a store to purchase the needed items by that time the summer clothes will be on display! Does anyone know how many more days until the first day of spring?
GCB