The Last ‘Warm’ Day

Dearest Rachel –

So, yesterday was the last ‘warm’ day before I leave town. From here on out, the highs – the highs, mind you – will be in the single digits Fahrenheit, if not at or below zero. I’ve heard talk about schools closing, despite the fact that it’s actually going to be too cold to snow from here on out.

Of course, I put ‘warm’ in quotes for reasons that you might recall as being obvious; winter in Chicago is just like that. As brutal as the days to come are going to be, what respite might come before and after them are considered such only on a relative basis; one has to content oneself with a day in the mid-twenties when it comes to being ‘warm.’

To be fair, that’s to be expected, and even desired, to a certain extent. At least with temperatures in the twenties, you’re still surrounded with a blanket (however thin) of picturesque snow, rather than only soggy patches of the stuff mingled with dirty slush on the side of the road as the ambient temperature dances back and forth over the threshold of freezing and thawing. It makes the walk in the woods that much more scenic, rather than a slog.

Granted, when I woke up yesterday (first at two-thirty, and then again around four, unlike on the days surrounding it – including today), it wasn’t entirely clear as to whether we’d be walking outdoors at all. Yes, Wednesday was to be the ‘warmest’ day of the week, but because of that, there was also the threat of snow we might have to deal with. As a result, there was some hint that Lars and I would meet to take a dozen laps around the outlet mall down by the airport instead. That thought, combined with my early wake-up, led me to get in some actual treadmill exercise yesterday; I spent a little more than two hours walking slowly (again, relatively speaking – anything faster than 4.5mph might trip the circuit breakers) uphill, covering more distance than we would eventually traverse in half again as much time outside. Of course, I wasn’t dealing with the vagaries of weather or bulky clothing, either, so it was decidedly easier – apart from the occasional misstep that would catch my foot between the belt and the edge of the treadmill; this is why you can’t run barefoot on one of these things, honey.

All this because I was awake too soon, and assuming we might just be perambulating through a shopping mall, only to discover several hours later how mistaken I was about that. Still, it wasn’t a big deal; while it did get cloudy over the course of our walk – and Lars insisted that I wear his detachable hood once we’d begun to circle back (he claimed he didn’t want me catching cold just before I was about to leave the country) – it started off bright and blue-skied enough, and never really got uncomfortably cold or windy.

We couldn’t have done this any other day this week, that’s for sure. And despite being footsore (or would that be “ankle-sore”?) from all that walking, I checked in with Daniel and got him on board to get out of the house for a lesson at church from Pastor Joel. So while neither of us accomplished much in terms of actual work yesterday (unless you could getting the gas tank filled ahead of the oncoming deep freeze – I was just asked this morning by Logan as to whether we had a spare gas can so he could start his car and get it filled up), we got out of the house to appreciate the day, while we still could without getting a case of frostbite in the process.

Now, however, I’ve got to survive the next couple of days (including walking out in the worst of winter Sunday morning to catch an Uber to the airport), while the boys will be hunkering down for the better part of a week to come before it even begins to thaw. So with that being said, I’m going to have to ask that you really keep an eye on us, honey, and wish us luck as always, because we’re going to need that much more of it today and to come.