My screen saver has a parade of photographs from Odhner history. It toggles between our trip to France two years ago, and a family reunion to the Poconos, then circles back to when the twins were in kindergarten. It does a number on my sense of time, which helps prepare me for the afterlife, where I hear there are no calendars at all. 

 

But even as I adjust to the time warp, there is another thing that jars me. People in shorts. It is currently extra cold outside, with an icy layer on top of the snow. The weather makes me nervous, I admit, and has me doubting the wisdom to go anywhere farther than the dining room. 

 

But more than that, seeing tank tops rattles me. Watching all that skin when the air is single digits seems reckless. 

 

"You cannot dress that way! I am freezing!" is my teeth chattering reaction. 

 

But gradually reason steps in to assure me that that person in the photograph is as warm as she or he needs to be, and what is more, I will be cozy again, too. It all helps me to believe that my experience of life need not dictate other people's choices. Plus, it is a promise that the shivering I am currently staving off will not always be nipping my heels. 

 

Warm days are in my future, both for my skin and for my spirit.