It's amazing how short our memories are. Every year, winter arrives in a flurry of white snow, as it did this week. And every year, we all seem to experience mixed emotions, including surprise, by its arrival. Children are usually pretty excited by the first snowfall. They can't wait to put on their new ski pants, their new winter boots, their new scarves, mitts and toques and get out there to build a snow fort. Snowmobilers are likewise excited by snow, seeing only the possibilities of a winter filled with flying down trails, on a few feet of the white stuff. Newcomers to this province probably feel a mix of emotions when they see the snow fall.... and swirl and blow around. It's possible that many new people in our community have come from places that don't get snow, and this is their first time seeing it. That would be exciting. But the thought of dealing with driving in the snow, and surviving a long, long Saskatchewan winter for the first time is likely sobering at the same time. I have to admit, by this time of year, when the leaves are off the trees and things have started to look kind of drab, it's nice to see a nice layer of white cover everything outside and make it look brighter. If only I could stay inside and just look out my window all winter, I'd be perfectly happy. I'm not fond of shovelling snow. Nor am I that pleased about having to drive on it, in it or through it. But it's a fact of life in Saskatchewan, dealing with the snow and the cold in the winter - just as we deal with heatwaves in the summer, when a temperature of 40 below starts to sound good. Though it would be nice to hole up and hibernate like bears do when the temperature dips, that's not human nature. Face it - no matter how much you hate the cold, you'd get bored. You would go a little stir crazy, staying inside all the time.Winter doesn't mean life stops here. It just changes for a while. We restock the emergency kit in the car with new snacks and blankets in case we go off the road. We put mitts back in the pockets of our coats, hauled out of storage once again. We start to get ready to leave a little earlier, allowing time for the car to warm up, and try to find that cord that connects the block heater to the outlet on the house that we stored with such glee last spring. And we go about our daily lives. In fact, in Canada, our lives get a little busier in the winter. People run themselves and their kids to hockey practice, figure skating, school and school-related events, dancing, dances, parties, comedy nights and everything else that goes on. We still shop, and travel. The snow and cold don't stop us. We've learned how to deal with both. Not all of us like it, but we know how to deal. That's something we should pass on to people who have just moved here - how to deal with winter. We take a lot of the knowledge we have about winter for granted - like where to find a block heater cord on a car and what to do when the winter blues hit - but it's knowledge that not everyone has. Luckily for local newcomers, there is a session this Friday at the Seniors' Hall about preparing for winter. It will give them a lot of information they need to physically survive our coldest months. But if you know people from far away who will be experiencing their first winter here, maybe give them a few pointers on getting through it - mentally and emotionally, as well as physically - if you see them struggling, or even before that. Winter can be exciting. It can also be intimidating. We need to remember why it can be both, as we head into it once again.
