10 Reasons I'm Glad Series: #10 - "If you're not from the Prairies, you've never seen cold"

First day on the road leaving Nova Scotia, April 28 2015 - Snow!!

I was thinking yesterday that we're about 10 days away from the 1 year anniversary of when we arrived in Manitoba.  I get asked a lot if we're happy we moved back, and I struggle with that question.  It's not our dream to live on the prairies: Jon's roots are in PEI and I never planned on coming back, and always wanted to live somewhere that was a beautiful destination.  We made a compromise in our lives to come here, and it's definitely never been an easy choice, nor have we always felt like we made the right decision. 

However, when I got to thinking about some of the things we DO have in our lives now, I wanted to share just how fortunate we are.  I started making a list in my head and came up with so many things!  So, for the next 10 days I am going to go through my top 10 Reasons I'm Glad, starting with #10:

Reason I'm Glad #10: "If you're not from the Prairies, you've never seen cold"

 

Jon noticed something last fall.  Every time he introduced himself or met someone new, they'd find out he wasn't from Manitoba and then say with a knowing and ominous tone "So... You've never experienced a Manitoba winter yet??  You just wait...!".  Unfortunately all those amateur meteorologists picked the wrong year and we had one of the mildest winters I've ever experienced, anywhere.  So, the doom and gloom didn't come true, but it doesn't change the endearing part of the story.  Jon pointed out, "Manitobans talk about winter like it's an achievement"!!

But it is!  Getting through weeks of -55*C, IS an achievement.  At the very least, it sets the stage for a communal shared experience, complaining about your eyelashes freezing together and your car battery icing over and having to melt snow because the well froze over.  We make it through every year and we're proud of it, because we're from fucking Manitoba, where winters are brutal and unforgiving and we still have to get primal and fight a little to stay alive each year.  I think this helps bring us all together, and it was funny to hear people continually express their Manitoba pride last year through ominous weather forecasting.

The other physical characteristic that I love about Manitoba is the big sky.  I could never live in the mountains, it feels too claustrophobic to a Prairie girl like me!  You can see the sun as soon as it pokes over the horizon, and until the very last second when it dips below on the other side.  My Dad's joke is "you can watch your dog run away for 3 days!".  It's unremarkable in a photo, but when you see it in person you can't help but find it breathtaking.  All that flat space, and so much sky.  You can see entire storm systems moving across the miles and miles of open space.

Manitobans are proud of their beautiful prairie landscape, even when it's inhumanely cold outside.  There's camaraderie to be found, even in the less desirable aspects of prairie life, and that's something I'm glad about!