So it’s been pretty cold here lately. Cold for California, that is.

Frankly, I’m into it. I love the cold. Getting all bundled up before heading out or snuggling into a blanket on the couch are awesome. Then there’s all that stuff you get to partake of…hot cocoa, apple cider, steamy bowls of soup, hot tea.

I think I developed a soft spot in my heart for frigid weather when I was back in Michigan for school. Before then, I never really knew what cold was…but I found out pretty quickly that first year when freshmen living on campus weren’t allowed to have cars, and when I had to walk uphill both ways (yep, I just said that) in the snow to get to work.

I got to my job one day and, as I was thawing out and listening to the radio, I heard that I’d just hoofed it in a wind chill that made things feel like they were well below zero. It was fantastic.

I’m not the biggest fan of the beach, even though one is never far away when you’ve grown up and spent the majority of your adult life in Southern California. And even though seeking out the salt air and the sand is rarely on my to-do list when I get some down-time, I’ve been to Hawaii twice for vacation in the past five years. Go figure. I guess the notion of little umbrellas in fruity drinks gets under my skin. And right now, even though the cold is just my speed, Hawaii seems like it could be a lovely place to visit yet again.

I was checking out a map last week, looking (dreaming?) for a place to vacation. Australia? Maybe. New Zealand? Perhaps. Hawaii again? Possibly. Everything that seemed appealing was to the left of California on the map.

Even if I went to the right and landed in the Bahamas, one could still argue that you could get there by going left…west…whatever — but just for a longer period of time.

This leads me to only one thought about which way to go when the temperatures start falling: left. Go left in the cold until you find someplace warmer. Go left until you find a beach that looks good to camp out on for a spell. Go left until you find your fruity drink. Then go left some more, stopping however often you’d like, until you get back home.

Tonight I am thankful for breaks in whatever weather we have going on in our lives, for the ability to change our scenery as often (or not) as we’d like, and for the home that we can always return to.