Monday in South Dakota

It’s been cold here. Below zero for days and days. Winds that suck your breath away. And then, one day it is eight degrees above zero. We go out with our coats unbuttoned and smile at each other and comment on the warm and we are bonded as a people through our having survived the trial of the cold and having come out alive on the other side. And now, after a balmy day of actual thaw, it has turned bitter cold and defiant wind – and we sulk. We slam our doors and pull the blinds and close the curtains and think bitter thoughts.