living through hell

winter is the worst. anyone who tells you differently is straight trippin. let's be honest. there's nothing good about it. the magic of the first snow fall is dead and gone and all we're left with is ugly coats, static hair, salty boots, cracked lips, and that uncomfortable feeling of being freezing and sweaty all at once.

winter blows.

and i hate it. loathe it. bemoan it. in utah, you could never hear the end of it. i would drone on and on and on and on and on about how awful winter was. is. and i remember swearing to never move somewhere cold because I HATE WINTER.

well, here i am in the worst winter of my life (followed closely by last year) and yet...i can't even be mad.

why you ask? what miracle happened that i could be stuck in a frozen hellscape where i've felt ice grip my very soul; where i've stumbled home with wet feet too many times to count; where my fingers are constantly frozen and my toes are always numb; where i get caught in a wind tunnel down some avenue and it's so cold i can't breathe--when i go through all that, why am i not just hightailing south somewhere for a new, inevitably warmer adventure?

it's a pretty easy question to answer.

there's this.

and this.

oh, and this.

and i'm like

yeah. new york has changed me. i still hate the cold and i still whine and whimper about it (case in point). but unlike utah where i cursed and clamored to get out, i'm sitting here kind of cold and kind of hot watching the sun set over the empire state building. and, well, there it is.

so when people ask how i can stand these east coast winters, first know that i can't (wherefore art thou spring?) but then just take a moment and realize...nothing in new york will ever truly break me down, because...and here's the kicker...i'm in new york. who gets to say that?

well, almost 9 million people.

but i'm one of them! and i couldn't be happier*

*unless it was 83 degrees and sunny. then i'd be ecstatic. but that's beside the point.

so in the words of the only song that really gets it, "new york, i love it when you're mean."