It's hard not to look at the video and photos and stories about the blizzard back East and then gaze out our window at the blue sky and green grass and say: Ha!
Some of you may be doing just that with family and friends who are caught up in the snow. If you want to share some of those "sympathetic" exchanges with your snowbound kin and clan, drop me an email at jmoore@vcstar.com and tell me how you managed to tweak those living through all that white stuff.
No, we should pray for them and wish them well-just like they will pray for us after our next earthquake.
In response to the Ventura County Star: Blizzard hits Mid-West How do you handle friends and family when they experience storms and you live in California?
My parents, siblings and friends live in Northern Indiana with lake effect snow. I was one of them but had enough and moved to Camarillo, California. The first year I was amazed how different the world was with sun and a month of winter. I called repeatedly to tell everyone how beautiful it was out here. In return, I was told to keep the weather to myself -they wanted to believe the world was miserable everywhere and I ruined it for them just by talking about the sun. But this week is different. Blizzards are their reward. "California has all the news" they say. "Every time something happens whether it is mud slides, fires or freeway shootings, California is always on the 6'oclock".
But not this time-living through a blizzard is their glory, it demonstrates their stoic pride. They believe mud-slides are sissy stuff and people who live in a state with earthquakes happening daily are sun dazed thrill seekers. But bring on a twister that takes down an entire town or a blizzard that shuts in tens of thousands of people for days while groceries run short and garbage piles high and they are in heaven. Blizzards bring out the best in Mid-Westerners. They can back out the John Deere and become heroes; they recue shut-ins with snow mobiles bringing bread and milk. Blizzards are what keep people humble and helpful. If you are a Californian keep your "Neener -Neener" quiet for now. Mid-westerners are hard at work. The blizzards are their fifteen minutes of fame. It is no time to call and say the trees are filled with white blossoms and spring is in the air. California weather doesn’t conjure up ideas of courage and strength until the snow turns black and slushy.
Come for a visit this spring, we'd be glad to have you!