It’s only been in the past three years that I started to appreciate winter in Southern California. I used to dread the short days and cold weather. Like everyone else in this state, I worshiped the sun and hated every day that wasn’t a summer day.

Then, something changed. Or, maybe nothing changed, and I just figured out the way things actually were. Whatever the case, I realized that summer actually sucks. It’s hot, there’s bugs, and everywhere is crowded. It doesn’t help that I feel ill when the temperature gets above 80º, either.

It’s easier to get warm when it’s cold than cool down when it’s hot. I sleep better in winter than I do in summertime. The air is cleaner in winter than in summer, too.

The weather in February alternates between a few days of rain followed by a few days of sunshine and scattered clouds. It’s those sunshiny days that I look forward to, particularly in the afternoon. Today, I walked to the grocery store. I took the long way home and walked through the park. Everything is more vivid in winter. The plants that aren’t deciduous are vibrantly green, the sky is bluer, and even the asphalt on the road is blacker after the rain.

I love walking in winter on days like today, especially walking west into the cold onshore breeze. The air is cool and clean. It feels exhilarating on my skin and revitalizing when I draw a breath deep into my lungs. Bonnie thinks I’m nuts when we go out walking, and I want to slow down and take in the winter air. She just thinks it’s cold.

It comes and goes so quickly. January is usually unseasonably warm. Well, I guess it’s not unseasonable if it happens every year. When I was a kid, we always had a week of minimum days in the middle of January as one term ended and another began. It was always in the 70s that week, which made for the perfect weather for hiking and playing outdoors. Now we have wildfires. That’s new.

It’s not until February that winter really arrives. Before March is out, though, it will all be over. The chill in the air will be gone. The puffy marshmallow clouds will disperse into the thin streaks of white that accompany the Santa Ana winds, and the temperature will begin its slow, inevitable climb.

So, I’ll just enjoy it while I can, like I do every year, and hope that when the ice caps have melted, the sea levels rise, and the climate finally settles, I’ll get to keep my February weather and maybe even get a couple more weeks of it. That seems less and less likely every year, though.