Weather It Is (Summer of Winter)

Good Evening:

Summer or winter -- you decide.  Seems like the mornings are getting colder as we move each day towards the official start of winter.  In fact, our next light rain should be on the way to start next week.  So, the weather will continue to feel like it should -- fall moving into winter.

Yet, after our early, rainy start to next week, temperatures should rise by five or six degrees as winds switch from northwest to easterly.  Just when you want to lock the door on the summer wardrobe, someone will change the lock, and that will be a good thing.  After all, who wants to be dressed too warmly when the weather isn't cooperating?

Moreover, the latest seasonal forecast from the ECMWF  (https://effis.jrc.ec.europa.eu/applications/seasonal-forecast/) shows a warmer than normal November, but heavier than normal rain amounts.  Yet, that should be followed by a drier December and January, with temperatures near or above normal. What happened to our rainy winter?

Of course, this is all talk, and who really knows what the weather will bring.  In fact, you know when you're in trouble when someone tells the weatherman to look out the window.  That happened to me today.

Of course, it's hard enough to keep one's eyes open when the clocks change, especially for morning people who find themselves again waking up at 4 in the morning, instead of an early, with the birds 5 A.M.  Just to make things worse, my wife pointed out that our neighbor is even more tired than normal because he's been getting up really early to pray, and followed this by a comment suggesting that it looks like there's even less hair on my head than just last month.  I may have reached the moment in life when a haircut makes you look life you've got more hair than before.

As you know, people tend to minimize their own faults, while amplifying the faults of others.   While that seems obvious, it tends to make for unrealistic expectations between couples.  One half of a couple can think that they can do better, if they just find someone who just has so and so characteristics, forgetting that they are expecting all the good qualities of their partner to magically pass to the other (new) person.

This led me to ask the existential question: if you could trade up for a new wife or a new car, what should you do?  This question didn't come out of the blue, but was part of a very deep and serious discussion about marriage, sometime difficulties in married life, and the rising divorce rate.

While it is true that not all people are good people, and not all pairings are good pairings, the answer is: "trade up for a new car."  You know what you're getting and the two of you can  enjoy a country ride together.  In fact, doing things together, is sometimes the best answer.  You might just find out how much you enjoy your spouse's company.

Barry Lynn