It’s Warm in Los Angeles

One of my daughters lives in Boston. Last Saturday, was the coldest day there in many years.  The windchill factor fell below minus twenty degrees.  That’s so cold that, I’m told, your spit will freeze before it reaches the ground.

Both of my parents grew up in the suburbs of New York City.  Since my father was a musician, the two best places for him to find work were in New York City and Los Angeles, California.  Fortunately for my brother and me in 1939, the year before I was born, mom and dad decided to move to Los Angeles.

They traveled cross-country in a 1928 Dodge.  Back then, many of the roads they drove on were still gravel.

As a native Angeleno, I take warm weather entirely for granted.  I still remember how excited I was one Saturday morning in 1952 when Los Angeles actually had snow on the ground.  It was only about 1-1/2 inches, but it was snow.  Alas, I had a piano lesson that morning, so I didn’t even have a chance to make a snowball to throw at my brother (that’s what snow is for – right?) before it melted away.

Last Saturday night my daughter’s basement in Boston flooded. Even though she and her husband kept the water flowing, the far below freezing temperatures caused a pipe to burst. You can see the result in the photo that accompanies this blog.  Fortunately, they are renting the house, and did not personally store anything in the basement.

I should, but seldom, remember to give thanks every day for the fine weather in L. A.  Many blessings in life fall into our laps but taking the time to appreciate my good fortune always makes me feel better.

Of course, Daveen’s parents also moved to Los Angeles from somewhere else.  (Didn’t everyone?)  I’m certainly happy about that.  Meeting Daveen is another piece of good fortune I should take more time to appreciate.

In Los Angeles, where we consider any temperature of less than 50 degrees to be below freezing, we often forget to count the blessing of warmth.

So today I’m doing exactly that.

I’m not going to think about fires, earthquakes, and mudslides until tomorrow.

Alan