Changes

When I left Chicago the temperature was 4 degrees. I could see my breath on the skybridge as I walked to the plane. When I got off the plane, my Apple watch hadn’t adjusted to where I was completely and while the time was on Pacific Standard, the temperature still showed the one in Chicago. I watched as the it suddenly flipped from 4 to 59 degrees in the blink of an eye.

As I walked through the airport, I saw a crowd of people waiting to get on the red eye to Chicago. I almost stopped and told them to get ready for cold. I was shivering just thinking about what they were headed into. I’m sure at dawn it would be even colder.

The moon was full and the night clear when I walked outside into the Los Angeles night. I was comfortable with just a sweater. Such an amazing change from how I’d been so bundled up earlier in the day when I’d set out for a last look at the snow.

Maybe because go back and forth so much, I adjust to wherever I am very quickly. No jet lag, I got up at my usual L.A. wake up time the next morning. I went outside in my pajamas without a second thought and sat down to have my coffee. The air had a little edge, but was hardly what I’d call cold.

In Chicago, they are telling people to be careful because they can get frostbite in as little as thirty minutes. In L.A. they’re telling people to turn off their sprinklers because we are in for rain. Well, no long “in for.” It’s here. I can tell it means business. The orange tree near my kitchen window is shiny wet and there are puddles on the patio reflecting back the flood lights.

We sorely need the rain, but it always comes with problems like possible mud slides in areas where there were fires, and someone getting caught in the suddenly fast current in the L. A. river.

Personally, I am on a high. I got a wonderful call from my agent. I don’t want to jinx it until everything is signed and sealed, so no details yet. But I don’t need anything else. As far as I’m concerned I got my Christmas present.