Is This the Arctic?

I long for my down-filled coat.  And a turtleneck shirt.  And a wool sweater.

I trudge up the hill from the bus stop to my office.  Chilled to the bone.  Heavy, wet snow falls with a vengeance.  My tiny red umbrella struggles to keep my head and shoulders dry.

Why did I only wear a jacket today? I fret.

From my knees down, I’m soaked. Snowy slush squishes in my shoes.  I vainly jump away as cars covered with two inches of snow rumble by spraying me with more wet snow.  Only the thoughts of hunching over my space heater in my office keeps me going.

I tell myself I will be warm soon — if I just keep going.  It’s May 24.  May. Twenty-fourth!  Where is the lovely spring day that my calendar has promised me? I reflect about global warming.  Methinks it hasn’t ventured into my corner of the world.

Part of my coldness is due to the book that I started reading this morning on the bus.  For the last forty minutes, I’ve been figuratively encapsulated in ice and snow along with an expedition that climbed Mount Everest in 1996.  I’m only on chapter three and I already feel their deadly cold, their pain, their angst, their struggles, their horror.

As a rule, I generally don’t recommend books until I’ve finished reading them.  However, I don’t think I’ll wait for this one.  From page one of the introduction, I was sucked in.  Mesmerized.  Enthralled.  I wanted to stay on the bus reading (can you imagine that?).

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer is a griping tale of the harrowing experience of climbing Mount Everest and the deadly cost it was to the team members.

Read it.

Just make sure you stay toasty warm!