Protect Her from the Cold Thursday, 26 January 2012

Have you ever noticed how women get cold much easier than we do? Maybe your wife is an exception, but every woman I’ve ever known is like that. My wife likes things so toasty warm that I feel like I need to carry a personal air conditioner around with me, just to keep me from sweating.

This time of year it can actually get pretty amusing. We’ll go out somewhere and my wife will be bundled up in a long coat that I call her “sleeping bag” and I’ll have on shorts and a polo shirt. Yes, I wear shorts and polos in January; but then again, it really doesn’t get very cold where I am. Most of our days hit 80 degrees and we haven’t had a freeze yet this winter.

Nevertheless, I can remember well all those years we lived in Colorado and Upstate New York. Snow piled outside up to the window ledges (and sometimes beyond); freezing cold weather for days on end. Ah yes, how I miss cold weather.

Well, my wife didn’t handle the cold any better when we lived in a colder climate, than she does now that we live in a hot one. I could be outside in shirtsleeves and she’s be bundled up like Nanook of the North. She really had a hard time dealing with that cold. It seemed she was constantly frozen from the first snowfall, up until about Memorial Day.

So, knowing my wife had a problem dealing with the cold and being a loving husband, I formed the habit of getting ready to leave early for wherever we were going. That way, I could go out, start the car, turn on the heater and clean off the windows, before she was ready. Instead of having to sit in a freezing cold car, waiting for the heater to thaw her out, she could get into a relatively warm car and only shiver a little.

You see, a man who really loves and value his wife, will go out of his way to do whatever he can to make life easier for her, not harder for her. The 15 minutes it cost me to make her comfortable in the car really wasn’t a problem, especially when compared to her having to sit there shivering for 30 minutes or longer. She knew I loved her and cared for her and that was the point of the exercise.

So, if you live in a cold climate, why not learn to do the same. If you don’t, don’t despair; you can still be considerate of her. When it’s hot here (most of the time) I try to go out and start the car and turn on the air conditioner for her. That way, she doesn’t have to sit in an oven, sweating, while she waits for the air conditioning to have an effect. Same idea, just different circumstances.