Confessions of a Southern California Girl

Most of my childhood and growing up years were spent in Sunny Southern California.  My father was in the US Navy so we moved a lot but it was usually up and down the coast.  Californians don't really think about cold weather except during Thanksgiving when they thank God they live in Southern California and don't ever have to deal with low temps.  When I lived in San Diego, if we started to get hot we would open a window to let in the cool breeze. If we got cold we would open a window to let a warm breeze in.  I honestly do not remember turning on the heat.  I know we had a heater and we were tempted but my Dad didn't want us to waste energy.  His point was that it would be warm by 10:00 AM so why turn on the heat?  I remember thinking this was funny because we weren't paying for the utilities because we lived in base housing.  We were green before being green was cool.

So with an upbringing devoid of freezing my rear off, I did not have the skills to dress for the weather that all other unlucky souls who didn't live in California had to deal with.  I thought a tee shirt was a shirt you wore to school everyday.  It never occurred to me that a tee shirt was the first layer of clothing, worn under a regular shirt, worn under a sweater, worn under a double layer coat with a water and wind resistant outer shell.  To me, hats, coats, and scarves were early morning fashion accessories that you could maybe wear in January, but had to come off by 10:00 AM or else you would be sweltering.

Boots looked so great in fashion magazines and we would try to wear them, but our feet had a hard time adjusting from the jap flaps we wore everyday.

Is it any wonder that I felt like I was freezing to death when I left So Cal?  I made a few paultry attempts at keeping warm.  I put a jacket on top of my tee shirt.  It would help a little so that I could make it from the car to the store without hypothermia, but I could never enjoy any outdoor cold weather opportunities because I did not have the skills to dress appropriately.

If I couldn't dress myself, you can imagine that I did an even poorer job at dressing the kids.  The problem was that we lived in Alaska.  Megan and Jeff were constantly sick with ear infections and respiratory ailments.  I remember talking to a woman who lived in our ward about how my kids were always sick.  She was in her late fifties and had been a nurse.  She told me that a lot of kids from lower class families were always sick because their moms did not know how to dress for cold weather.  She explained the layering theory to me and the need for hats with flaps that covered the ears that could be tied down, and proper foot wear.  I remember making a big change at that point.  I wasn't low class.  I was just from Southern California.  I was grateful that the kids didn't get sick constantly after I started dressing them correctly.  It was freeing to go outside for walks and enjoy some of the wonderful out door activities Alaska had to offer.  Thanks, Sammy Bingham, for giving me the 411 that I needed.

I am bringing this up because we are in Texas and freezing this week.  I am having to delve back into my arctic knowlege.  I sure hope it warms up again soon.  I prefer the lifestyle where a tee shirt is the shirt you wear to school everyday.