Once upon a time, there was a maiden who lived in a land that was almost perfect, except for the fact that it was cold, it wasn’t by the ocean, and the local politicians had a penchant for illegal activities.
This land had by it a body of water that looked very much like an ocean, although it was in truth a very large lake. This lake was most beautiful to look upon. This lake was, like the land around it, very nearly perfect. It had but one flaw: its temperature. Â The temperature had a nasty little habit of fluctuating between varying degrees of cold, colder and may-I-never-feel-this-pain-again.
One day, this maiden and her prince, who was himself almost perfect, except for – well, we won’t go there now – decided to leave the almost perfect land in search of, among other things, warmer water. After much contemplation, they set out for a land known as Coastal Carolina.
Ah, friends, the joy they experienced when first their toes touched the ocean! It was autumn, and yet the water temperature was still in the 80s! Sweet bliss sent from heaven above!
 
Okay, I’m over writing in pseudo fairy tale voice.
The first year we were in Carolina, after being used to Lake Michigan temperatures, we swam even in winter, with the water temperatures in the 50s. I still remember a day in January that year, when a dolphin swam so close to shore that my husband immediately decided to have himself a Sea World experience. Off he went, running down the shore and then diving head-first into the ocean, fully-clothed, in an attempt to touch the dolphin. The locals clearly thought he was a few sandwiches short of a picnic.
How do I know this? Â Because I have become one of them. Now, long accustomed to the Carolina ocean and its temperatures the majority of the year, I wonder why in the world you would ever subject yourself to such discomfort when you can just wait a few weeks.
This last winter, I don’t think my feet touched the water for three months straight. This just didn’t look that appealing to me.
 
Does that make you want to put your feet in the water? It makes me want to assume the fetal position. Clearly, based on this and a couple other posts, I have weather-related issues. Actually, I have lots of issues. Stick around.
It’s gotten much better this spring, however, with water temperatures now well into the 60s. At this point in the year, I’m knee-plus deep in the ocean, eagerly anticipating when it will hit 70. And when it gets close to 80, folks, that ocean becomes my own little slice of paradise.
My kids, on the other hand, being kids, gave up keeping any part of themselves dry weeks ago. And so they offer a glimpse of what I’ll be doing a few weeks from now.
 
I can’t wait.