Each spring and fall in Minnesota there is a two week period of perfect weather. The days are warm but not too hot. There are not many bugs out yet. Everything is green. And most important, everyone is happy.
Everyone is happy because Minnesotans are some of the most forgetful people in the United States. We get three days of beautiful weather and all of a sudden we forget we live in a state where winter drags on for six months out of the year. It is as though our minds, so long deprived of sunshine and warmth, get overloaded and our long term memory shuts down. We no longer can recall the dreariness of winter or the onslaught of killer mosquitoes in the summer and instead we are left in a state of constant euphoria.
Suddenly people start talking about what a wonderful place Minnesota is to live in, and how they could never leave this place. The Twin Cities has one of the highest college graduate retention rates in the nation. I suspect this has more to do with the fact that graduation and the big career decisions which come with it occur at the same time as this two week window. Young naive, college grads think, why would they want to move someplace else when they can live here. They make their decision to stay and then WHAM! the crummy Minnesota weather comes charging back.
Think I am exaggerating? My business partner and I were incredibly close to deciding to move to the beautiful town of McMinnville, Oregon. We set a date by which we would make our decision to either stay here or move which unbeknowst to us fell within the Fall window of beautiful weather. After two weeks of gorgeous weather we decided Minnesota was the place for us and felt pretty good about it. Three days later the temperature dropped like a rock and the whole state went into hibernation for six months. But it was too late, our decision had been made and I was left having to stand by my choice.
At least for two weeks in the spring and another two in the fall I can feel like I made the right decision.
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3 comments:
I am just laughing! Since we were some of the few that actually 'got out' of MN, we think occasionally of going back because of family. But then we look at the weather and talk to people there in the winter, and think - why are they still there and how could we ever go back?! Here's the trick of it - the people are good. I love the people in Minnesota - both in general, and specific ones like you guys!
I guess there isn't many places that are perfect. -you can come to Arizona... we have 3 months of hot weather, and the rest is great!
Well said... Our continental climate is very conducive to huge swings in temperatures...
I don't know if you remember, there was a time this past winter, in early February, when the temps here in MN stayed below zero for more than a week. One night was especially windy, with the temperature around -20 F and the windchill of -44 F. I was sitting by the window in my living room; it was dark outside, the wind was howling, and cold drafts were blowing through every crevice and opening in the walls.
I remember looking out the window onto the darkened street and thinking: "It's 65 degrees inside, and it feels like -44 outside. There is only a thin layer of glass that separates me from severe frostbite and possibly death within minutes. What kind of place is this???"
In the summertime, when we're all wearing shorts and t-shirts, it's hard to imagine -44 F windchills...
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