Skirts

Once upon a time, I loved to wear skirts. When I was in the fourth grade, my great aunt made me a beautiful, deep-blue skirt for a school play that  wore pretty much every day for months after the play. When I was working as a pharmacy technician in college, I wore skirts to work almost every day: flowered skirts, long skirts, pencil skirts, plaid skirts...

But living up here in the Adirondacks, wearing skirts in the winter is tough. When there's snow (which there should be through most of the winter), you really can't wear a skirt and be comfortable, even with wool tights or leggings. (At least, I can't.) Skirts just aren't practical when I'm slogging out to the chicken coop or taking Colden to preschool.

I get jealous when I see pictures of my sister wearing skirts down in Texas all winter long. Skirts up here are reserved for just a few brief months, usually between May and September, when we can go to the farmer's market and even go for a little walk in the woods in our sandals and skirts.

There's just something about being able to throw on a skirt with a t-shirt that makes me feel...well, free. Winter time up here requires layers - many layers - in order for me to maintain a comfortable body temperature. And that's even when the wood stove has the house at 72 degrees.

Sure, I could crank the heat up to 80 degrees and put on a skirt for the afternoon, but it's just not the same.

For now, I'll just have to hunker down in my thermal underwear and my fleece sweatpants and just watch the snow fall through the living room window...