Winter Wear

This morning while walking the dog, I came to a realization.  I think I have shared this realization before, if not here on some other media platform, but feel it needs to be reiterated.  As I grow older, I find I would rather look foolish to others and be warm than looking cool and being cold.

This morning while walking, in a sub -20 wind chill, I was wearing my hoodie under my winter coat and had a balaclava to cover my face, and was regretting not wearing long johns underneath it all.  While there were a few in similar garb, the majority of people running to the bus stop were not even wearing a hat.

Now let's jump back 30 years, I would have been 17, in grade 12, outside waiting for the school bus.  My hair would have been frozen,  like everyone else's, because we wouldn't have waited for it to dry, and one certainly did not want to be seen wearing a hat.  I would be wearing the lightest jacket, my mother would allow, and running shoes against the cold and snow.

I think the biggest difference was the people around me.  When I was a teenager in high school, I cared what my friends thought of me, and now I do not really care what the stranger running for the bus thinks of me.  Besides, I am so bundled up against the cold these days, the stranger running for the bus, has no idea who I am or what I look like anyway.