I grew up in the Boston area, where we had four distinct seasons, and a heck of a winter. I remember spending my Decembers making snow angels in the backyard and having massive snowball wars with my neighbor, Bryan. Winters back east were awesome in certain respects, but they were pretty rough on my sister, who was suffering from a major illness. My folks decided to pack up and go west, and one August we did, traveling 2,500 miles in a 30-foot Ryder truck and an ’82 Suburban.
Winters out here, well, they aren’t quite the same. Sure, Las Vegas saw snow early in November, but the Valley doesn’t see snow land on the ground and stay there for any period of time. If we Phoenicians want to have snowflakes in our lives, we have to either drive up north to Flagstaff, or hire a guy with a snow machine and pretend.
If I had to choose between having a beautiful snowy holiday season back east or a sunny one out here, I’d pick Phoenix every time. Don’t get me wrong; the snow is fun, and I can’t wait to take my son sledding for the first time. But it’s everything else that comes with those eastern winters that kills me. The black ice on the road, rusty cars, dirty snow (and its less popular variant, yellow snow), that mush that happens in the spring, and most of all, shoveling out your driveway or scraping ice from your windshield. Man, I hate that.
I recently met someone who was a native — someone born right here in Arizona and who has never lived anywhere else. She hates the hot summers and lack of seasons. “I’m moving to Seattle,” she said. “It snows up there, and at least they have four seasons.”
What this person doesn’t get is just how lucky we are to live where we do. For eight months out of the year, our weather is phenomenal. We never have to scrape our windshields, and rarely have to put on the defrosters. We don’t buy our heating oil in the summer to get cheaper rates, nor do we have to buy heavy clothes just to survive the subzero temps. And best of all, as my father likes to put it, “You don’t have to shovel sunshine.”
Yes, it’s the winter here in Arizona, and for those of us who live in the southern part of the state, it’s going to look pretty much the same as it does year-round. It would be nice to see a little snow every now and then, sure. But for me, I’d much rather walk out of my house and into my truck without worrying about a thing.
Of course, if it gets a little brisk out, I can always put on my Red Sox jacket. You know, just to remind me of how good we have it out here.
