The Best Decision *update*

I just have a brief post today.  A year ago today I accepted a job with FOCUS as a campus missionary.  It was one of the best decisions of my life.  That is all.  Well, almost all except for the following comment about the weather.

Side note: For some reason New Orleans weather is set as the default on my phone’s weather report.  I just checked the weather.  I have to share the ridiculous temperature disparity with you…it’s over 100 degree difference.  That is, of course, if you count windchill…which I do.

After I saw this I obvi. texted Claire (who I went to visit in New Orleans) cause this is hilariously ridiculous.  She texted back and said she shared that info with the whole bar.

March certainly came in like a lion…here’s hoping leaving like a lamb means consistent, positive temps–or warmer!

P.S. I hope today marks the day you make one of the best decisions of your life and apply to be a FOCUS missionary! 🙂

***UPDATE***

I’ve got to tell you, I’ve been doing some research.  I’m still amazed that I didn’t realize until the end of January that this is one of Fargo’s colder winters.  But, I wanted to know just how cold.  All of my research was found in an article on the ABC station in Fargo.  Is it official, scientific, and peer reviewed?  No, of course not.  But it’s straight up ridiculous.  Here’s the top three quotes from that article from meteorologist Daryl Ritchison:         

1) “This winter, if you’re 40 years old or younger, is the coldest winter you remember.”
2) “In fact, it’ll go down as the 17th coldest local winter on record.”
3) “We were below zero at some point in 65 of those 90 days.” (That is the months of December-Februrary.)

My least favorite quote from the article:

“My suspicion for the spring is March will finish below average. Noticeably.”

I Was Wrong…

Ladies and Gentleman, I’m not a genius and I make mistakes.  Whew.  So good to get that out in the open so I don’t have to hide the truth anymore.  If you click on this link you’ll be directed to a post I wrote recently–you know, where I said I don’t hate the cold anymore.  Look at the “bonus” reason…scroll down…yep, number 6.  The one where I said I don’t get sick here because the cold kills everything (good and bad).  I was wrong.

We’re approaching week four of 2nd semester.  Get this:
Week 1-  TJ’s sick
Week 2- Kelsey’s sick
Week 3- Bryan’s sick
Week 4- I think we know…

I’m starting to feel a little yucky, if you will.  So I’m off to bed hoping to get plenty of sleep so maybe I will feel less yucky tomorrow! 🙂

But, I should let you know we just finished bisonCatholic week.  It’s a week of on-campus events to promote Catholicism in a positive light.  It went quite well, if I may say so.

More on that later but, for now, it’s off to bed to dream of next year (you know, the next Super Bowl…where our favorite team wins…The Packers. Duh.)

Mark My Words: I’m Beginning To Like The Cold.

So, to catch up those of you who haven’t been outside in days, don’t watch the news, haven’t been on Facebook in forever or haven’t sent your carrier pigeon outside only for it to never return because it froze to death…it is really darn cold outside.

This is, quite frankly, what everyone all over the world (err…midwest) has been saying lately.

It’s been said that this is Fargo’s worst winter in 15 years.* Word on the globally-warmed-street is that prior to the onset of the polar bear’s greatest problem 15-or-so years-ago all Fargo winters were like this.  Let’s just say that whether or not you believe global warming is a thing, we can ALL agree to agree that you wouldn’t want to be living in Fargo back then.  (Did they even have electricity here back in the early 90s?)  I kid.

But anyway, believe it or not, the arctic temperatures are starting to grow on me.  Yes, I still sometimes say a naughty word when I turn that corner by the Administrative Building on my way to the union and enter the “wind tunnel” that rivals the wind tunnels on State Street and East Campus Mall in Madison.  Yes, last week I said to Bryan and TJ, “I don’t believe people actually willingly choose to live in Fargo.”  Yes, I spend as little time outside as possible.  But, the cold.  It’s finally okay.  Here’s the top 5 reasons why I’ve changed my outlook from hatred to toleration to a little bit of affection:

1) Solidarity, sista!
I think the fact that my beloved Wisconsin is feeling the arctic chills that I’ve been “enjoying” consistently since early December has comforted me.  Dear friends and family in Wisconsin, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for suffering with me.

2) Winning the “mental game”…and hope for sunnier days!
You know how you walk somewhere during weather that makes you think you definitely got frostbite on your nose…and probably your ears too?  But, then, 2-3 hours later you thaw and you give yourself that pep-talk: “Okay. It wasn’t that bad.  I can walk home…orrrrr I’ll just change my plans and stay at the Newman Center/Union/etc. until tomorrow when I have to be back there.”  Well, you have to leave.  Unions close.  Our office’s heat gets turned way down.  People want you to go home sometimes to, you know, shower and put clean clothes on and stuff.

Anyway, when you build up the courage to trek back to that sweet little white house you live in and you make it home for the night knowing you will not have to leave for (insert number of) hours!!!  As you can imagine all those pep talks, all those days you’re certain you’ll wind up passed out halfway home because it’s just too cold to take another step, all that time you spend adding up the minimum number of seconds you have to be outside that day… Well, it makes you stronger.  Everyday you survive is more confidence in that little brain of yours that you can, just maybe, do it again.  Plus, everyday survived is one day closer to that sweet relief named April. Or May.

3) Those sweet kids here in Fargs.
I may or may not offend some Badgers with this one.  Now, let it be known that I spend a good chunk of time on weather.com comparing temperatures between Fargo, Wisconsin Rapids, Madison and Singapore.  It’s usually a bit colder and windier here (discluding SingSing where’s its just around 100 degrees warmer everyday).  I’ve also realized that I’m the. only. one. here. who. complains. about. the. weather.  Before reading on, bear in mind that those in Madison are, generally, more outspoken and opinionated than the sweet NoDak dwellers.  But, I’ve got to tell you, lots of people on my Facebook that go to school in the great Dairy State are whining just like me:  “Why do we have school?”  “We’re all going to literally die.”  “I can’t believe they haven’t canceled school.  I’m not going to my classes.”  “Yeah, make me go outside.  I’d like to see you try.”  Anyway, for some reason no one does that here.  They’re all like, “Oh, you postponed the talent show until tomorrow night because of the frigid temperatures?  Well, I’ll stop by the Newman Center tonight anyway, even though I could safely stay in my cosy house the rest of the night.”  Or there’s that student I saw who I saw as I was approaching the union that said, “Isn’t it just great out here!”  Now, she was a little sarcastic, but was certainly not whining and I think she might have even been enjoying the weather.  Oh, and I found out when I arrived at the union that the day before she had a fever of 103 and, you know, has bronchitis.  What. The. Heck.  Anyway, they all seem to like it here (or at least aren’t vocally or Facebook-ily stating their pure hatred of the weather) so I thought I could give it a try.  Thanks to all those whiners in Madison for helping me realize this…it wasn’t until your complaints that I realized I wasn’t hearing any from the people who live here…and I was probably annoying the crap out of everyone here! 🙂

4) I know I’m alive
Last year, one of my current teammates (who was placed here in Fargo last year) decided to walk the 10 (15?) minutes home when it was -20 degrees…without a hat.  Don’t worry T.J., I won’t tell anyone it was you.  Anyway, he said he did it because he wanted to really know what it was like to be cold.  While I (or anyone, probably) wouldn’t condone his behavior, it’s kind of nice to be that cold because you just know you’re alive.

5) I’m not made for this world
The best reason I came up with for beginning to enjoy this weather is that it reminds me that I’m made for heaven.  Obviously these severe temperatures are a result of the fall (my opinion…not dogma).  I don’t believe the All-Loving God that our Creator is would willingly subject people to this brutality in the Garden of Eden.  So, when I’m outside I just replay one simple sentence in my head while I take purposeful and eager steps toward my destination: Someday I will be in heaven and will never have to suffer negative temperatures again. 

***BONUS NUMBER 6***
6) I haven’t been sick in forever.
Usually I’m pretty consistently sick.  You know, a cold every month.  But, I haven’t been sick since September.  I attribute that solely to the fact that nothing–not even germs or bacteria or whatever else might make you sick–can survive in Fargo.**

I’d like to wrap this post up with a toast:

To Canada and everyone from the pre-turn-the-thermostat-up-to-70-whenever-you-want days, I commend you for somehow surviving.  My hat is tipped to thee.

 

 

*How official is that information?  Well, the volunteer coordinator at the Great Plains Food Bank that I went to with a bunch of students on Saturday to work at told us this info.  She is a young twenty-something who moved to Fargo in May after living most of her life in some tropic location…Florida, I think?  Anyway, you can trust my source…she has sooo much experience with Fargo winters.  (Actually, after she said that, many native Fargoans (Fargoians? Fargans? Fargonites?…) corroborated.

**Yes, I know that’s not exactly science.  In fact, all of my teammates have been sick in the past week and a half.  Here’s hoping that if I just believe hard enough the cold will continue to kill anything that threatens my health.

“Go to Fargo,” they said. “It will be fun,” they said.

As many of you know, I fundraise my entire salary.  What does that mean?  It means that I spent the majority of my summer in Wisconsin fundraising, full-time.  I set up appointments with family and friends.  I gave a talk after the Masses at my home parish.  I made friends with the people next to me at baseball games.

I told everyone (and anyone) about my mission with FOCUS.  I also, of course, told everyone about my placement.  I told them that I didn’t have a say in choosing where I went; it was up to the Holy Spirit (and the Regional Directors) to assign me to one of FOCUS’s 83 campuses.  The regional directors said, “Go to Fargo.”  “It will be fun,” they said.  They. Were. Wrong.

Don’t get me wrong.  I love what I do.  I love the students here.  I love the mission of FOCUS.

I guess I should back up to this summer…

While I was meeting with my potential mission partners at least half of them laughed at me.  No, they didn’t laugh when I told them about the mission of FOCUS.  No, they didn’t laugh when I asked them to join my mission by becoming a monthly supporter.  They laughed when I told them I was going to Fargo.  They said, “Wow. DO YOU KNOW HOW COLD IT IS THERE?!”  They laughed when I said, “Oh, I know it’s cold.  But, I love winter.  It’ll be fun!”  Then they told me how they heard there were not any trees in all of Fargo.  Then, they laughed again.

Did it hurt when they laughed at me?  No, not even a little.  I figured no one ever actually visits Fargo.  So, I assumed any professional Fargo-knowledge they had was acquired by watching the movie Fargo–which, by the way, I’ve still not seen.

When I arrived in Fargo in August everyone asked, “You ready for winter!?”  My philosophy used to be this:  I’m from Wisconsin.  There’s cold.  Then there’s colder.  It’s not like either of those are very comfortable.

Then, this past weekend rolled around and my Fargo-Philospohy changed.  The tree thing that my mission partners told me–totally true.  (Well, okay, there are some trees…)  But, there’s kind of no forests.  There’s no hills.  There’s really not much besides wide open prairie (think Oregon trail, but with electricity and legit doctors to heal the dysentery and snake bites).

What does all of this have to do with your philosphy about the cold, Jane?  Well, I bet all you Wisconsin natives take for granted the lovely bluffs of Western Wisconsin and the forests that are everywhere.  I bet you never realized how much they stop that biting wind from making you want to cry.  Chicago thinks they’re the Windy City.  Well, North Dakota is the Windy State.  It’s. Stinkin’. Windy.  Like blow-the-hat-off-your-head-on-a-regular-basis-windy.

So, the wind has picked up the last two weeks.  Just in time for the temperature to pick down–err, get colder.  I threw my philosophy out the window when I saw this yesterday:

And, it’s not 12 degrees as in a Wisconsin-12 degrees.  It’s 12 degrees as in you’re-wrong-weather.com-it-feels-way-colder-than-12-degrees-outside.  It’s 12 degrees as in wow-it’s-a-pleasant-temperature-for-January-12-degrees.  It is not–and I meant NOT–an acceptable temperature for November 11.  Not even a little.  Not even at all.

A couple weeks ago my mom said she heard again how cold it gets in Fargo.  She asked if I need a better winter coat.  I told her my philosophy and said it would be fine.  Now I’m here, mom, to tell you that we’re going coat shopping at Thanksgiving–if I can make it until then without turning into a popsicle.

“Go to Fargo,” they said.  “It will be fun,” they said.  My new philosophy in life is this: Life is all about what they don’t tell you.  Like how they failed to tell me that Fargo is the 4th coldest city in the U.S.A.

So, there are two takeaways from this post:
1)  Pay attention to what they don’t tell you and you won’t be caught by surprise.
2) In Dante’s Inferno he talks about how hell is frozen and immoveable.  Contrary to the belief of every literary           scholar (ever), he wasn’t actually talking about hell, he was talking about North Dakota.

DISCLAIMER: This post presupposes that it gets much, much, much colder in North Dakota than it is right now.  I’m  not whining or claiming I can’t handle it.*  If that were the case, I know I wouldn’t survive winter.  This post is simply observations made based on the late-fall weather in Fargo.  Also, I’m bitter that it’s snowing and warmer everywhere east of here (i.e. Minnesota and Wisconsin).  I mean, come on, the cold is so much more bearable when there’s that pretty white stuff on the ground.  No dice with the snow here…yet.

TO MY FRIENDS IN THE SOUTH…(i.e. Claire in New Orleans): You might be sad you can’t experience fall like you do in Wisconsin.  But, fall isn’t all it’s cracked up to be when the only time you hear the leaves crunching underfoot is when you’re running from your not-yet-warmed-up car to the house before you blow away or when you have a pumpkin spice latte because your hands are so numb you need to thaw them out.  So, I’m with you on the lack of “good” fall weather!

*The posts where I whine and complain about how I can’t handle the weather will certainly come in due time.  Probably January-Februrary, or March…heck maybe even April from what I hear!