Hot and Cold

Prompt: Share about feeling so hot or so cold you'll never forget it.

Generally I like to think I'm not particularly picky about temperature. In all honesty, the people around me seem to mention being too hot or cold before I do. Granted, my husband will likely disagree. He exists at a basic temperature about 10 degrees hotter than I do (and, I believe, everyone else).

But I have been hot and I've been cold.

The most memorable for me is when I was cold.

It was the winter of 2009 in Lawrenceburg, IN. I was serving as a missionary for my church, and the area was recovering from a recent ice storm. We were encouraged to go knocking door to door. The temperature was about 14 degrees Fahrenheit, but with windchill it was registering at -6. But with the wind blowing off the river it felt even colder.

As female missionaries we were required to wear skirts/dresses. I was wearing underarmor, a t-shirt, tights, a long sleeved shirt, sweatpants, a button-down blouse, my slip, a sweater, mid-calf winter boots, a heavy coat, a scarf, a hat, and two pairs of Thermal-insulated gloves. I had not even closed the car door before the liquid in my eyes began to solidify. My extremities were so cold they felt like they were on fire. It brought to mind Robert Frost's poem "Fire and Ice."

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.