Looking for warmth!

I’ve had an usually difficult time with the weather this winter. It seems that I’m always cold, cold at work, cold at home, cold in the streets. I do all I can do to warm myself up. I wear thermals, layers, drink plenty of tea, wear socks to bed, you name it.

Although times are tough, funds are low; I recently took the plunge and went seeking the sun and warmth of Miami Beach for a few days with my two sisters. I was anticipating that feeling of thawing out. Weeks before we left, I regularly checked on the weather. Finally I had to inform my sisters that they should bring along spring clothing because the temps were ranging between 50-70 degrees during the three weeks I was charting the Miami temps.

I thought I was prepared as I had everything from bathing suits to a few lightweight, cotton sweaters. We arrived in Miami around 3:00 in the afternoon. By the time we checked in the hotel and found our way to a restaurant, it was approximately 6:00 pm and the temps were down in the fifties. And that was pretty much the scenario for the entire five days we were there; fifties during mornings until about 11:000 a.m. and seventies until about 5:00 p.m. I shopped around for a denim jacket and there were none to be found. Folks were walking around shivering during the mornings and evenings.

I kept telling myself, “be grateful”, seventies was much warmer than the thirty something temps in my home of Brooklyn, NY. But while we were there, only one day out of the entire week was really warm enough to be on the beach with just a bathing suit on. I have a vision of one day retiring to a city that’s warm year around, but it no longer seems that’s an option in the US, since for me, the desert states (Arizona, New Mexico, Texas) are not an option. Even Mexico was experiencing fifty something temps that week. I’d like to retire somewhere warm, but I’m no longer sure that will be a state side option??? Does this mean I'll have to become a expatriate to be warm?

It seems that global warming doesn’t mean that things will just be warmer. Ultimately, it means Climate change is truly with us and that can mean unpredictable and severe weather changes. I’ve noticed that the weather seems to be severe whether is torrential rains, frigid cold snaps, and blistering heat spells. It seems that the weather just swings to extremes or long spells of unseasonable temps.

Perhaps things will change for me when I start experiencing my own personal summers (menopause), in the meantime, I’m shivering right down to my toes!!! But despite the weather, I had a great time in South Beach hanging out with my sisters, visiting with our long time friend Ms. Ruth, and having nothing to cook and no dishes to wash! Holla!