It’s cold.
And I live in sunny California. But all across our country it seems to be really cold. Well, except Florida.
For some people, cold weather is fun. Snowmen. Snow fights. Snow angels.
Cold weather is also adventurous. Snowboarding. Snow skiing.
Cold weather means sitting around the crackling fireplace with a piping hot mug of cocoa. It means putting on that cozy goose down jacket and your insulated UGG boots.
Forget about those mornings you have to shovel snow. Or scrape ice off your window shield. Ignore the fact that a snow storm could snarl traffic for hours, if not days.
Cold weather is fun.
Of course, if you are without a home, cold weather is no fun. That measly second-hand, donated blanket with holes in the middle won’t keep you warm in the middle of a near-freezing night. Try sleeping outside during a rain storm.
Waiting in a public feeding line at the local park is no fun, regardless of the smiling faces of the good-hearted people who serve you a warm meal. Sidewalks are cold. The hills outside of town are wet. Forget about crashing on the beach during a violent storm.
Being homeless in cold weather is no fun.
Cold weather also means packed shelters.
It makes sense. Who wants to sleep outside during the cold winter? Despite the fear of sleeping with a hundred other people who are homeless, in a sterile homeless shelter, a shelter bed is a better option than the cold sidewalk.
Sleeping in a leaking pup tent outside on a rainy night is no fun. It’s better to sleep in a gigantic shelter tent that houses 200 cots, because it has hot air pumped in, and a warm meal in the morning.
Cold weather also means colds. That incessant cough. Runny nose. Aching head. It is no fun being sick. Especially if your home is the sidewalk.
Somehow, we need to make cold weather fun for everyone.
I guess the only way that could happen is if everyone had their own warm and secure home.