Some Beach...Somewhere...

Well it is January in Minnesota and truthfully I should not be complaining as it is in the 30's, a heat wave for us. Of course this means raining sheets of ice on a weekend I have to be in the car travelling places but at least it is not -20 right? We might even see some of our snow melt which is rare, typically any snow we get in November is still there in March along with everything that fell in between as the temperature rarely gets above freezing here. But back to my title what on earth does the beach have to do with freezing weather in Minnesota?

Something happens to me each year and it sneaks up and hits me over the head until I realize what it is and learn to duck, winter homeschooling in Minnesota. By the time mid-January rolls around it has been cold for awhile, the holidays are over and we are trying to focus on school after the holidays and before the beautiful weather wants to bring us outside. We are all together a lot and there are realities that come with that. It feels like we will never be warm and outside again - April or late March look pretty far away right now even though they truly are not.

The kids are at each other and nit-picking to try each other crazy on purpose some days. They don't want to be outside much and who can blame them? Our local pool and gym see us more when I remember - they need to be out exercising even more right now, those are the good days when I remember that. The days we take a field trip or school at the library or even a local coffee shop just for some variety.

Then there are the other days in winter when I crave to be on the beach anywhere. With sun on my face, warmth between my toes and the sound of waves calming my spirit. However what Minnesotans call a beach are completely frozen over. Our lakes are beautiful don't get me wrong and I enjoy them but they will never be the beach. It is funny that I crave the beach so much, maybe it is because I grew up on Long Island and when things were crazy I would go and walk along the beach even in winter and there was always something so calming about it.

Back to reality. I am getting ready to drive our oldest to a swim meet through an ice storm over the course of the next two days. Lovely. But she loves swimming and I can't ask her to find a better lifelong sport to be passionate about and develop her talent in. So while I dream of the ocean I will get my ice scraper out, pack my cooler for the day and head to the warmth of the swimming pool deck.