We were in NYC for Halloween. While I love my hometown, this trip reaffirmed for me that living in a cold winter climate just does not cut it for me anymore. Above is a picture of the girls, about 3 minute after stepping out of the airport upon our arrival. I just kept on putting on layer after layer on them. They were laughing but clearly in shock.
Speaking purely from a physical standpoint, here are my issues with cold weather:
Sore shoulder muscles:
When it's cold, I tend to scrunch up my shoulders - for hours at a time. At the end of the day, my shoulder muscles are all sore and painful. No such problems on the island.
Chapped heels:
In SXM my heels are baby smooth. I do not do anything special to them, I don't even put lotion on them, but I think the perpetual humid climate just lubricates my heels in a way that they never have been before. In contrast, in any other cold-winter climates, my heels are always chapped and cracked. Not only are chapped heels aesthetically displeasing, I have a tendency to mindlessly pick on cracked skin - I'm glad to have dispensed with this issue on the island.
Bunion pain:
During this past trip to NY, I had to cover myself with a heavy down blanket (and I was still too cold during the night). The trouble with this is that the comforter weighs down on my toes. No joke, this actually hurts my left bunion. Granted, since my surgery my bunion is not as prominent, but the pain is still there. On the island, my feet happily sleep without the cover of any blankets.
Multiple layers of clothes:
The first day out I made the girls put on a pair of tights and then a pair of jeans. Manolee has a tendency to say out loud what I think only to myself, and she blurted out: "it's hard to fix my wedgie with so much clothes on!"
On top of all these issues, we had a freaky October nor'easter and got over a foot of snow when we were staying with friends in NJ. The kids had a blast building snowmen and having snowball fights, but I made sure I didn't step out unnecessarily.
Of course, there are many many things I miss about NY, but it's safe to say that I don't regret leaving the cold climes.
