Blue Skies and Smiles

When I woke up today, I was welcomed by a beautiful day here in Maryland. The sky is mostly blue, with some soft brush strokes of cottony white, the air is dry for August, and when I first walked outside this morning, I had that rare summer pleasure of finding it cooler outside than in. Immediately, my spirits lifted a little, even though I already felt somewhat upbeat from my decent night's sleep and my interesting and pleasant dreams. What is it about the weather that affects our mood so much, sometimes on a daily basis, and sometimes seasonally?

I know there are all kinds of theories out there, and I am certain some are even quite scientific, but I just know what's true for me. Greeting a morning such as today's makes me feel more energetic, cheerful, even hopeful. Weather such as this brings to mind a host of happy thoughts and memories. It is easy to contrast that with an early winter day which greets you with its dreary cold, heavy gray skies, a biting dampness that sinks its teeth into your bones, and yet leaves you with no hope of a cleansing, brightening snow. A day like that can send me to a place I hate to go, where gloom descends and life is bleak and difficult, where the minor becomes major, and where warmth remains out of reach all day until late evening, when I find it in my bed under layers of blankets.

Then there are the crisp, cool autumn days where copper treetops become even more ablaze against a deep blue sky. On such a day, you can see your breath in the clear morning air as you walk on crunchy, frost-coated grass, but it warms up to a perfect Indian summer afternoon. The jeans-and-sweatshirt mornings, the bonfire-and-marshmallow nights for me are bittersweet and my spirit is full of contradiction: summer's end is always sad for me, and yet the newness and change of fall brings feelings of happy anticipation.

Perhaps this relationship between weather and mood can also explain why people seem to be a particular way in particular regions of the country. For example, those fortunate enough to reside in the San Diego area are without a doubt more relaxed, flexible, easy-going, and genial. Of course the weather alone could not be responsible for this general impression, but the ease of life that results from living in a place where the weather is almost always wonderful certainly must contribute to a general feeling of well-being. In contrast, I've heard, though not personally experienced, that New Englanders can tend to be more irritable, inflexible, and moody, perhaps due to winters that last from October to April, and the months of gray skies, icy drizzle, raw cold, and snow that eventually steal the smiles from faces and the spring from steps. In fact, I once had a conversation with a woman from New Hampshire while we were both vacationing in San Diego and we both agreed that simply taking winter weather and all that it involves out of the equation of your life would subtract a huge amount of inconvenience and drudgery.

Think about it. If you lived in a place like San Diego, you would never have to do any of the following: scrape ice off your car windshield before you could drive it anywhere; own several coats and jackets, hats, and scarves and have places to store same for every member of your family; find missing gloves (which seem to be similar to the single socks we all end up with); shovel a sidewalk; own a pair of snowboots; have a car that is now grayish white instead of black due to all the salt on the roads; have "snow days" where kids are off school and where you will spend the majority of the day (if you are a stay-at-home mom) trying to untie frozen bootlaces tied into triple knots, drying three sets of clothing per child, removing chunks of snow and ice from winter hats, turning snow boots upside down over heat vents to dry their insides, and making endless cups of hot chocolate with mini marshmallows to be grasped by little bright red, nearly frost-bitten hands.

While there is something about the change of seasons that I like, I often wish the progression went like this: spring to summer to fall and back to spring. The only thing I like about winter is Christmas and snow - I love the beauty of pine branches laden with snow and looking out to see everything in sight coated with white. I love the freshness and purity that snow brings, I love to ski, and I dream of some day staying in a cozy cabin somewhere guaranteed to have snow, and taking a ride on a horse-drawn sleigh. But I can always travel somewhere to find a winter wonderland without having to deal with the daily inconveniences and bleakness of frigid yet snow-less winter days, which never fail to make me long for the feel of the warm sun, green trees and blooming flowers, walking barefoot in the grass, and lying in bed under a light quilt while the cicadas and frogs sing me to sleep.