Winter is a Beautiful Ferocious People Eating Monster

Today I accomplished another goal on the list:

11. Go on a special outing with little Abe

It was still in the single digits here temperature wise on Thursday. Our 9F degrees is -12C for you folks in other parts of the world. Today and yesterday however it was in the 50s (10C). It's been AMAZING! Virtually all of the snow melted yesterday.

Today I knew that we must venture out for a walk and then I decided to turn it into a special outing by driving to the beach for our walk. We only live a few miles away but the beach is always so special (especially during the off season). We both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and I was very happy to see that the "snow mountains" as I call them hadn't completely melted yet. I love how the beach transforms in the winter. It was great to venture out there today and still see magnificent signs of winter despite the wonderful warmth.

The enormous lake Michigan is actually beneath those mounds of snow.
Where my little Abe is standing is the shoreline.
The people standing on top of the snow are looking out onto the lake.

As we were driving through downtown the get to the beach I couldn't help but find myself slightly startled at the signs of life everywhere. People, real live people weren't huddled in their homes straining to keep warm but were standing on street corners conversing. Shoppers were strolling throughout all of downtown on both sides of the street. I saw bicyclists and skate boarders and kids just playing out of doors. There were people everywhere. The beach that only two days ago would have been virtually barren was covered in visitors climbing the (dangerous) mounds of snow at the shore, walking along the sandy beach, playing at the playground and strolling the pier.

I couldn't help but realize how for the past few months there's been no movement, no signs of life outside apart from cars carrying half frozen bodies to and from their destinations. I thought to myself while looking at these recently absent signs of life on planet earth, "winter is a beautiful ferocious people eating monster." Seeing people outside today, having escaped the monster of winter, enjoying fresh air, warmth, and sunshine was, well, it was a fabulous change from what the world has been for the past several months. It was incredible!

Our beach is magnificent!