Adopting Jessie

It’s October and I was looking forward to fall. You know frost on the ground, cool crisp air, picking pumpkins, warm sweaters….all the rites of fall. And for a minute it looked like we were headed that direction. On Saturday I ended up covered in a blanket at the football game, the air was cool but the sun was warm….perfectly fall. Sunday was a bit cooler and then MONDAY, October 5.

OCTOBER….I wake up to not only snow on the ground but it is still snowing. Oh bother. I’ve already been told here in our small town in Montana there are NO snow days – none built into the school schedule at all. Does this mean no snow? Ohhh no, it means you put on your big girl panties (or snow pants) and go to school. So I woke up yesterday, got the Princess up and dressed and headed to the bus stop. I expected snow, so that was no surprise but I did not expect snow in October. It snowed all day yesterday. I spent half the day at Jessica’s school and was just amazed at how the snow was simply not a big deal. They go out to recess still – the only restriction is you can’t go out to the field to play if you didn’t bring snow pants. Otherwise there was no complaining, no gripes or whines, just lots of kids looking like Ralphy in A Christmas Story headed out to the buses, or walking home. It was so cute but again it’s OCTOBER!! What happened to fall? We skipped it.

Today there is still snow on the ground but it is no longer snowing. I decided I would drive Jessica to the bus stop so she’d have a warm place to sit and wait for the bus and then I turned into one of THEM. Montana should not be known as big sky country – it would be better described as big TRUCK country. I don’t feel so out of place, our van is no small vehicle. BUT, what I have thus far refused to do is leave my van idling to warm up in the morning or leave it idling at the store while I run in, etc. Seeing an unattended vehicle idling is not uncommon here. I was certain that was NOT going to be me….until this morning. While it’s not snowing, it is about 30 degrees out this morning which meant that the melted snow is now ice. TODAY I let the car idle for about 3 minutes before we got into it….and I am a convert. Most of the doors were still frozen shut BUT the car wasn’t freezing (I turned the seat warmers on) and I could at least see out the window….big bonus when driving.

So let’s back up a couple of days to Sunday – when it looked like fall was upon us (only to have winter sneak up and win the race). We had no place to go so Jessica picked out here clothes all by herself. Her sense of style is, well, it can be summed up in one word UNAFRAID. She is unafraid of color, patterns, mixing fabrics, layering and she is unafraid of doing it all at one time to achieve this look:

The knit fuchsia sweater is worn UNDER the Hawaiian print summer dress to achieve maximum warmth and softness on the skin. Adding the pink leggings is a practical measure that not only provides additional warmth but an additional pattern and the third, fourth and fifth colors that round out the palate and provide the perfect transition to the beloved pink flip flops – because fashion must not suffer due to the chilly weather.

And as if turning the page in her bedtime story, we have gone from pink flip flops to pink snow boots in just one day.