My family is continually trying to get me to move back to Illinois, where we were all born and raised. I am a bit torn about the topic, to be honest with you, because I miss the crap out of them. I love my new city and all the people who live here, but nothing is ever the same as being back home with your family members and best friends, of course. There is one major factor that keeps me from deeply considering the idea… winter. Where I live now, winter consists of about 2 months of “cold” air. To be clear, this interpretation of “cold” is extremely relative to the usual air temperature. Honestly, it only gets down to about 35 degrees here during the winter seasons, which feels like spring to my midwestern bones. Back up in Illinois, on the other hand, they can expect 6 to 8 months of brutal cold, snow, and windchill that dips well below zero degrees. When I pause for even a moment and think about those frigid days, there’s no debate in my head that I”m in the right location. I recall all the mornings of trudging out into foot-deep snow and desperately chipping sharp ice off my car windshield as my mucous froze solid in my nostrils and shudder with distaste. I jokingly told my family that if they paid for a radiant heated driveway for me, I might consider coming back up to their frigid hell someday. All things considered, maybe they should just bit the bullet, escape the horrendous chill and come my direction, instead.