David: She's In for a Shock!

After a lifetime of hot, humid weather in the Philippines and a miserably hot summer in Indianapolis, Leah May got her first taste of seasonal change. I won't say she spit it out, but it clearly didn't agree with her.

With morning temperatures around 60 degrees today, Kathy suggested that Leah May should wear a sweater for the short walk to school. Leah May was clearly baffled when I presented the sweater to her moments before we left. She pointed out her bedroom window at the clear skies. "No sun today?" she asked, bewilderment registering across her pretty face.

It will be sunny, I told her, but it won't warm up until later in the day. Trusting me, though sporting a countenance that indicated I might be off my rocker, she had me help her button the sweater from bottom to top. Once downstairs, I put on my own windbreaker. It's a rather modest jacket, red with simple white stripes down the sleeves, but it sure elicited boisterous laughter from my daughter. (Just wait until she sees my winter coat; Robin Williams would envy the kind of laughter it surely will get.)

Outside we went.

She hadn't even taken her second step before she turned around, wide-eyed, and exclaimed, "It's cold!" I smiled and said that's what I'd been telling her. Then, even more loudly with arms extended and in a tone one would use to say, "No you bleeping idiot, you don't understand what I'm saying," she again exclaimed, "IT'S COLD!" Yep, I agreed.

We took a few more steps down the driveway. "Is winter?" she asked. Nope, still summer, I explained, but it will be getting cooler in another month or so when it's autumn. And then it will get real, real cold in winter. The latter must have been too much for her to comprehend because she ignored it. Several more times on the short walk she repeated, "It's cold," and she clearly had no intention of removing the sweater once at school.

Fortunately for her, this taste of "winter" will be short. We'll be back in the nineties by Sunday, but I'm sure the constantly changing weather over the next few months will also throw her for a loop. Welcome to Indiana, Leah May!