We are on the front side of a cold snap, up here in the interior of Alaska. It’s just starting to get cold, with temperatures this morning in downtown Fairbanks hovering right around 30 below Fahrenheit.
The weather forecasters are threatening us with an extended cold spell, indicating temperatures should drop into the negative 40’s in the days ahead, with no break to the cold in the foreseeable future. But what do they know?
I like the cold.
More honestly, I like extreme weather.
I find that it is nature’s way of reminding us who is in charge, of the limits to our own knowledge, technology, and power.
The wilderness, or natural world, restores my spirit. Whenever I can, I like to go to the mountains, the forests, or sea to do just that. I don’t get there as often as Id like.
So when the weather turns inclement, it’s like a house call from God.
It redeems me, renews my understanding of my place in the world, and the universe. Despite all our folly, our destruction of ecosystems and life (possibly even our own), weather reassures me the natural world will persevere.
We may not recognize the outcome, or be able to exist in it, but nature and all its intricacies will remain.
And that comforts me.
So today when I come in from the cold, fingers swollen, icicles and frost on my beard, don’t pity me.
Celebrate with me.
For I’ve been dancing with the gods.
In the oh so, glorious cold.
