I Hate Cold Weather — By Tommy Purser

I hate cold weather!
I’ve spent my entire life in the South. Mostly in Jeff Davis County here in southeast Georgia. Eight years of my life I lived in Florida. That’s right, The Sunshine State.
In those eight years in north Florida along the banks of the St. Johns River, I never experienced weather cold enough to be worth mentioning. I didn’t even experience a hurricane.
At least not up close and personal. That came sixty-some years later when Hurricane Helene came roaring through Jeff Davis County.
As bad as that was, it wasn’t cold.
The cold we’ve experienced in these parts lately was uncomfortable. In fact it’s still uncomfortable. If it had snowed at my home Sunday afternoon, my discomfort would have been somewhat ameliorated. I would have at least enjoyed watching snowflakes gently swirl from the skies above. But, no, there were no snowflakes. Just cold.
I saw on the news videos of huge snowflakes gently drifting to the ground, riding the gentle winds that blew that afternoon. That video came from Swainsboro.
I wasn’t in Swainsboro Sunday afternoon. I was at home, confined to my warm home because it was too cold outside for this old man to endure.
The video of Swainsboro didn’t delight me. What would have delighted me would have been watching such snow falling in my back yard. That would have delighted me.
The video of Swainsboro made me mad.
Well, maybe not mad …. just envious.
I can’t remember the last time I watched my children build a snowman. I know they did. Or at least I think they did.
I have a photo of my two older children holding snowballs and wearing delighted smiles spread across their faces. I took that photo.
What I remember most about that time was it was cold.