Know Thy Internal Barometer

Mine is right about here.

The one universal observation I have made in my life about people as they get older is that they tend to care more and more about the weather.  When The Weather Channel first appeared on cable, it was a joke to hack comics..  “Hey, what’s the other term for The Weather Channel?  Your window.”  I guess that daily weather is only of import if there is something severe headed your way and you have to travel.  Okay. What I am actually referring to is climate.  The weather where you live.  I think it is overlooked in our lives or treated as a trivial detail when someone moves to a new location.  Job prospects, schools, crime, and housing process all matter, but so does the weather. The weather just matters. 

            Many of us, if not all of us, have an internal barometer.  We cannot change it.  It is like our eye color or bone structure.  It is unique to us; it may not be the same as your immediate family.  It is the temperature range, the altitude, the humidity and the intangible feel of a place that feels comfortable to you. The feeling when you see news footage of the first fall colors in Vermont, or the soft sandy beaches of the Gulf of Mexico; you linger a little too long. It is not just a kneejerk reaction to that day’s weather. It is the feeling of home.  Lots of people choose to live outside of this climate, even if they know what climate they belong.  For marriage or job, they have chosen a place that is just not quite right for them.  I will concede that this can be done successfully, but what I will not concede is that there always is a lingering sensation when seasons change or when temperatures hit their extremes.  You just don’t feel right, somehow.

            We need to appreciate these emotions.  If we ignore these types of emotional realities in our lives, we will pay for them later in life.  If it is too snowy and cold, you have choices.  If it is too hot, head north.  If you have a partner who thinks otherwise, you have to make a compromise.  There has to be somewhere suitable for the two of you.  Some of us feel a tugging inside us that pulls us somewhere else.  It is not a move for money or living situation.  There is a need to belong where you live.  At least, get as close as possible.  If you do not have this then consider yourself lucky.

            It has nothing to do with where you were born.  I’m guessing it has a bit to do with your genealogical background, but I’m not smart enough to roll through that. I’m just pointing out that a lot of Scandinavian immigrants live in Wisconsin and Minnesota.  Even among those frosty people, there are some who long for New Mexico and 330 days of sunshine a year. Americans get to make the choice.  Part of what makes our country kind of cool is that we have a representation of every major world climate.  We are our own EPCOT.  Hot desert, freezing tundra, sandy beaches, farmland, swamps, deciduous forests, pine forests, lake fronts, ocean fronts, high mountains, low hills, flat lands, urban, remote, green, brown, and those black beaches in Hawaii.   We are free to live anywhere we can or want.  Not a lot of countries on Earth can boast this.  They don’t have the same options in Morocco or Scotland.  This is a first-world problem.  It is also one we can appreciate and fix if we need.

            I need seasons.  I need them.  Twenty-five years in Florida taught me I need to break up my year into four sections, each with a personality and their own unique tasks for dealing with them.  However, I don’t need the colors of the seasons as much.  Florida is very green.  Oregon is very green.  Different trees, same color.  I need low relative humidity and only ten or so days of the year that reach 90 degrees. I don’t want to break out in a sweat from my front door to my mailbox.  Also, I’m not much for sub-zero temperatures. I do not own a snow shovel.  No problem in Oregon.  It’s moderate, mild and rainy in the first four months or so of the year.  Some people hate rain and need sun as much as possible.  These lizards could live in Idaho or Arizona, depending on the temps they prefer. 

            My mood has improved exponentially since leaving Florida.  I miss all the people in my world down there; but it was not them I left.  It was the intense heat and humidity.  My wife and I had to try somewhere else.  When you are miserable all the time and the only person to blame is Mother Nature, you may have an alternative. Get the fuck out.

            We ignore these intense pangs from our internal barometers every day.  We exchange the focus on them for thoughts of money and success and tradition and fear.  This is one of those things that in your bones.  You feel it or you do not.  It is integral to a happy life, or it is not.  These are the parts of life that really matter to us. Try not to turn your back on them.