And so it finally begins

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything here. I’ve been busy stressing out over my husband’s completion of his course and visiting with my Canadian family. But we’re finally back home together in la maison grise.

So it finally begins. My life with my husband here in Quebec, my first Canadian winter. We got it started with a bang, being welcomed home by a crusty three-foot snowbank at the end of our driveway.

The cold has weight here. You can feel it pressing down upon you, sinking through your clothes. You can feel your very molecules contracting as the feeling flees your extremities. It’s a very different kind of cold from what I’ve experienced before. In Oklahoma, we certainly had some cold days. But you always knew that a few days or a week would bring relief. Here, you know the opposite. There’s no end in sight. The snow won’t melt away for many months, and the temperature won’t rise above freezing for just about as long. I’m not sure it has really sunk in yet; it’s winter for nearly six months here, and Saguenay winter is SRS BZNS.

But life is good. I think I’m already getting acclimated to the cold. You bundle up, you tough it out. And I remind myself that people have been living here for hundreds of years, dating back to times when there was no electricity and the only solution for the cold was to pile more wood on the fire and stack more dead animals on your person to try to stave off a frosty death.

I have new snowshoes. And I’ll finally get to try skiing and snowboarding in 2013. It’s a strange life, for sure, with many changes and unforeseen challenges. But it’s my life, and I’ll say it again. I wouldn’t trade it. Even if I’m assured by a new friend that I’ll hate life in February, when it’s -40C.