Florida is not Florida today. I am looking out my window, seeing gray skies, yellow grass, and I can not seem to get warm no matter how hard I try.

It is currently 35 degrees outside, a temperature I have only felt in FL on very, very rare occasions. And it has been like this for almost a week now. And I cannot help but love it. I'm not sure what it is about the cold weather that I've always loved. It's all so depressing and yet invigorating at the same time. Maybe it's the reminder on a day like today of my blessings. I sit here, bundled up with my slippers, warm in my hoodie, drinking a hot cup of coffee and (at the risk of sounding cheesy) shielded from the cold. Yesterday I discharged a patient who really had no home. Yes, they had a place to go, but preferred the streets. How sad to have nowhere to be and nobody to be with on days like today except for the cold streets of the city.

I realize 35 degrees would probably a welcome, warm temperature to some of you reading this, but believe me for us Floridians it is nearly unbearable! We don't own scarves, hats, gloves, coats, or boots. We don't know how to drive on the ice if it comes to that. I have driven in snow, but I'm pretty sure it's not the same. Our heaters can't even handle the cold, because it just never seems to warm up. I'm getting a taste of what it might be like to live up north. Would it really be something I want? Yes, I would answer, on a 95 degree day with 80% humidity.