Feels like Christmas in July

It's not exactly tropical but it's close enough for me.

I'm at mom's house outside of Houston. This morning I awoke to a beautiful sunny day and sat out by the pool in the sunshine, barefoot and in shorts. It's the first day of winter. It's supposed to be near 70 today. Except for the higher humidity, it feels very much like early summer in Boulder.

The Christmas lights are up and everything in the house looks very festive, but I can't shake the feeling that it's summer. I grew up literally five miles from here and yet I find this surprising and disorienting. But I also find it comfortable and familiar. The big trees are just now dropping their brown leaves, a process we went through in Boulder months ago. I left Boulder with snow on the ground, and here I'm walking around like I'm at the beach.

I actually find it liberating. Sometimes in the cold of Colorado I start to feel trapped, though much less so now that I've had a few years to adjust. Often in the dead of a Colorado winter you can't leave the house without being bundled up in five layers from head to toe, yet here I am in Texas lounging poolside and contemplating a swim. But as I sat there wiggling my toes in the December sunshine I remembered the days when I fantasized about mountains and what it must be like to actually have snow at Christmas. It always bugged me that the Christmas cards and decorations depicted snowmen and wintry scenes, when outside the grass was green and short sleeves were in order.

I think I'm pretty lucky to have the opportunity to live in both worlds.