Changes

There were many changes today. Some might say they were not so good. Being the true North Dakotan that I am, deep down inside, there was a bit of me that was just a little excited. One might ask, what are these changes that she is referring to? Well, just let me tell you.

First of all, yesterday was quite a chilly/windy day. We all knew this was coming sooner or later; just never thought it would be this soon. It rained a little bit during the day and when I was leaving class around 7pm, it was extremely cold, wet and windy. The three mixed together is quite atrocious in the eastern part of this state. I went to the gym, had a horrible workout, and then decided to head home. On my way out of the gym, I noticed there was still moisture falling from the sky, and didn't realize until I got in my car, that it was raining.....and...snowing! Yes, folks, I said it. It was snowing. Let's mark it on our calendars... Tuesday, October 10, 2006....the first snowfall. But, it didn't snow enough to really leave a mark, except for slippery corners and interstate bridges.

So with snow, comes low temperatures, obviously. Last night it got down to 22 degrees. I was chilled and had to turn up the heat in this wonderful apartment of ours. This morning, on top of all my other things I had to get ready, I hurried to put the inside liner of my winter jacket back into the winter jacket and find my wonderful mittens. Who would have thought that I would be doing this so early in the month. Not me apparently....since I didn't have things put together before I went to bed. And then, on top of those extra things, I got out to my car and had to use all my effort to pry my doors open without breaking the handles (due to the mix of rain and snow freezing) and had a good layer of frost on all of my windows. Wonderful. Just wonderful. As if I wasn't already running later than usual.

Changes. You can't hate them. I don't. If I absolutely hated these changes, I wouldn't still be here. I am a true North Dakotan. Born and raised. Even though I dislike the extreme temperatures and bitter wind gusts that leave my ears, nose, and fingers tingling, I look forward to this day .... every year. Every single year. And honestly, I don't know what it would be like to live elsewhere...without these wonderful changes. I know that this is just the beginning. The beginning of another long winter. Another long cold, wet, snowy, bitter, but beautiful winter. You just wait. You'll see. I will show you how beautiful it can be here. And you might, you just... might... fall in love with the beauty.... just like I do.