I Guess Y'all Just Get Used To It
In my new job, I deal with customers who call in with questions about their barbecues. Sometimes, during the calls, while I wait for my computer to look up information, I engage in small talk with the customer. I find that the easiest thing two strangers can talk about is the weather, and often they initiate it. A guy asked me the other day how the weather was, and since it was just above 0 Celsius with the sun shining, freshly fallen snow, I told him we had great weather. He complained about his situation, and upon my prodding he said he was calling from California. "When it gets under 70 (Fahrenheit), I don't even go outside," he said. I replied, "Well it's a balmy 35 here today." Doing metric conversion on the spot is an asset at his job. He thought for a bit and then said, "Well, I guess y'all just get used to it up there." Those words came back to me as I picked up a few last-minute Christmas gifts at the mall. This season I've had trouble getting in the mood for Christmas and I'm abnormally apprehensive about our upcoming holiday family time. Over the last few months, as the mall I occasionally work at has become increasingly decorated for Christmas and increasingly busier approaching the holiday, it was only today that the prospect of Christmas and all in entails brightened my mood. As I pondered these words of Yankee wisdom, it came to me, as much as we adapt to our physical environment, so too do we adapt to our social environments. While I cannot excite myself with the prospect of opening gifts and eating candy, there is still much to look forward to at Christmas. Sure there are more family politics each year, and I am continually more aware of crap I didn't know about as a kid, but as I type this blog entry, there are family members awaiting my arrival back home, and tomorrow, as we exchange gifts in our traditional way, it will still be Christmas. My faith does not exist in the same way it did as a teenager, and my understanding of God is not as in tune as it once was with my member church back home, but I can still gather to worship with them on this Christian holiday. I need not be haunted by the ghost of Christmas' to come, but take in the pleasant spirit of Christmas present.

   [ posted by William @ 4:56 PM ]