Kinds of Honey

Colorado did a crazy thing these past few weeks and hosted a stretch of below-zero temperatures. We all bundled up and I even had to wear my base layers. I wore these nearly every day of the Iowa winters when I was in graduate school – but on this Colorado Front Range I’ve found that they are largely unnecessary.

We shivered our ways to cars and workplaces. I liked the cold that caught in the back of my throat. It was like Minnesota, Iowa, home. This was winter. Everyone else glared.

Now the thaw has come and snow patches are melting. I stood outside my apartment and walked barefoot on the landscaping stones. T. loves the snow but in this balmy February thaw sun-and-wind, she ran around wearing the kind of smile we all want in springtime.