I am not freaking out.

I'm not. Really. Know why?

Because last week:

• it got cold. Actually, that word should be reserved for a later time, but "cold" is, and always will be a relative term. Maybe I'll revise that to say that it felt cold. About 20 degrees. Fahrenheit. Really not a bad temperature, but then again, it is October. What really made it feel cold, what made it hurt, was the wind. We endured 35-45mph winds for three and a half days straight. My nostrils hurt walking from school to home.

• the planes stopped coming. For three days. There was no mail, or packages, or fresh veggies and fruit - for three days. The wind was too strong to land a small plane. So they didn't come.

• the river froze. Overnight. It froze. You could walk on it. People were. On the ice. And people were ice fishing. In October. On a river.

• the bay froze. It looked like the Arctic. The Bering Sea was frozen. Salt water, with a freezing point below freshwater, was solid. A seal climbed out of the water and sat on the ice.

• sunrise hit 10:00am. That would be midway through 2nd hour - US History.
  

And then this week:

• the wind stopped. Calm. It is wonderful. Planes land. Planes bring packages and mail and food. My nostrils can breath happy knowing that frostbite is still a ways off.

• the sun returned. Shocking how powerful a face full of sun can be regardless of the temperature. Shocking how it can warm your back as you sit awaiting a fish to bite your hook.
  

• high tide came and swept the sea ice back out to sea. Blue water is again my view. The river also lost much of its ice. Not all, but enough to put the ice fishing opener on pause.

• the sun was still shining when I left school at 6:00pm.

And so I am not freaking out. First of all because things have righted themselves. The weather became more Octoberly acceptable. But the main reason I am not freaking out is thus: like cold, I believe that phrase should be conserved for a time where its meaning is needed and it hasn't been watered down over weeks of me being overdramatic. So maybe I should end this with a caveat.
I am not cold...yet.
I am not freaking out...yet.