The Icy Hand of Winter

Cold, bleak, no sun for days on end. This is what is about to happen to one of the most beautiful places on earth, Northern Michigan.

It’s late October and for the most part the weather has been mild for this time of year. The colorful leaves of autumn have almost all fallen from the trees. But over the last three days, with rain and snow mixed in the forecast, many in the area are beginning to feel the icy hand of winter approaching.

Growing up and living most of my life in the Pacific Northwest, I have experienced winter weather many times in my life, but it is nothing in comparison to how it is here in Michigan. By pure observation I have found that the first one and a half to two months of winter are both beautiful and bearable. It’s the second one and a half to two months that tends to get one down.

Since moving to the shores of Lake Michigan, I have had to drive close to sixty miles one way to work in the wintry mess. Several evenings while working late, I had my doubts of getting home safely due to the weather. Most locals take it all in stride, accepting what Mother Nature has handed them, but non-locals, Northern Michigan transplants, which I am one, have a much harder time with it.

After traveling here for over six years, I had thought I had learned what the snow or “S word” was all about. I’m here to tell you it is nothing compared to living here and having to deal with it on a day-to-day basis.

With winter quickly approaching there comes winter preparation which includes weatherizing your home, your vehicle, and lastly yourself! Not only do you have to gather up anything that isn’t attached and put it away if your afraid it will freeze, but you also have to rotate your entire wardrobe, exchanging all of your colorful, light weight summer clothing that will not be seen until possibly late June or early July, for the warm and usually dark and drab clothing of winter.

Being a city mouse now living in the country, the lack of being able to travel to wherever you want during  winter really hits home. The closest large city from where I live is close to an hour away considering winter travel. This makes one tend to stay home and buy goods from local business and vendors. With living in a small tourist town that mainly survives on wealthy “summer people” and tourists “fudgies” (locals refer to all tourists as fudgies due to the fact that they buy large amounts of fudge while visiting), the town virtually shuts down during the winter and everyone tends to patron the local businesses with a sense of survival. Yes, things tend to cost a little more, but its the feeling of community that makes this area as special as it is.

Everyone in town supports local high school sports just as if the were the local professional team. The first two years I was here the girls basketball team won the state championship two years in a row! Places like the post office, the grocery store and pharmacy tend to turn into local gathering areas when the snow is deep and the wind off lake Michigan is howling down Main Street. People stop to talk with friends, family and neighbors while just passing by.

Since coming here I have met some very wonderful people that have treated me like I have lived here all my life. I have some great neighbors that have helped my family out over the past year, and I have made some extremely close friends who I love dearly.

My late father asked me when I first announced that I was moving to Michigan, “Why in the hell would you want to move to the God forsaken place”! If he were alive I believe I would tell him that I truly love my hometown with all my heart. It’s where I was raised, it’s where my family and friends are from, and its the town and community that made me the person I am today. But I would also tell him that Northern Michigan in my new home, and even though the winter cold tends to pin you down for a few months out of the year its still is my home and I love it here. I love it here as much as living out west, just differently.

With that said, could someone please send me some warm socks!