Baby it's Cold Outside.

Yes, Christmas is over and the insufferable forcing of Christmas nostalgia can be once again, allowed to rest. But, just one last time, "Baby it's Cold Outside." When a title rings true (and it is still within that week after Christmas), then it has to be repeated. Here in Nebraska (for those of you who do not know where these come from), it is very cold. Bitterly cold in fact. Another bitter fact, water freezes. Yes, at zero degrees Celsius the molecules in water slow enough to go from a liquid to a solid state. The solid state is larger in mass than the free-flowing liquid state and therefore the pipes that transfer the liquid state of water get clogged with a size too large to manage, and PPPsssshhhhhh (what I imagine spraying water sounds like).

A resurfaced photo of our basement that one time. Dad swears I didn't take the hose off the spout. 

Even in the gas state water can become problematic, (just watch the Festivus episode of Seinfeld). For my dad, he knows all to well the problems that a frozen pipe brings to my childhood home, nestled in the country far away from city limits. The heat source to survive in the dead of the below zero temperatures we are currently experiencing is the one fireplace in the living room.

See, my dad, many years ago figured out that he could reduce heat costs by using the fireplace (I thought was just for decoration). He cleaned the chimney, shut off the gas to the heater and for several years now, has lived with my mom with no alternative heat source. Don't worry, there is no AC in the house either, a luxury only sampled when our family stayed in hotels or when I moved to college. Ironically, the conditions in Basic Military Training were more temperate than home in the summer.

The reason for any of this is the appreciation for either the heat or cold inside when the weather on the outside is the opposite. For my dad it is his principal to be frugal, he believes in it, he sacrifices for it. Even if there were excess resources available, the principal of spending extra money when he is fine with supplying wood, keeping the fire stoked, and even sometimes missing out on time with family due to again, no other heat source available. After all, our principals are all we have when we cut right through us and if we give in on those, then what do we have left, but a superficial comfort. A comfort that is never enough and therefore more is needed, more things, more adequate temperatures, more, more, more.

A picture from inside the home. 

Stimulation can fail to settle genuine discontent feelings. Our principals are genuine and this is why we sacrifice for them. Stimulation, or possibly getting more of something doesn't give us that genuine feeling of our actions coinciding with what we believe. I now live in the lap of luxury with my gas-heated house set at 70 degrees despite the temperature outside. If it is the cold, like the negative temperatures these days, then the heat kicks on. If the temperature is 100, then the air conditioning turns on (I will inform my dad of what this cool air coming out of the vents is later). We are blessed, we are wealthy, we are appreciative of these things. I know is all I have to do is discard a dirty diaper in the outside trash to remember how well the heater is working. My principals of sacrificing time at work for the comforts at home for my family are what I believe in. I also believe in adequate time at home and therefore the comfort in which we live may not be found in as much material as it is in time.

Keeping it simple since early 1900's. 

My father would not be any more satisfied with the luxuries of modern society. Those things are not what he values. If there were a new truck in the driveway, as long as his old one works, he wouldn't see the point. I remember his father, my grandpa, would never turn the AC on in his truck because it made the hot seem hotter, as well as affected overall mileage. He would drive with the windows down all summer. It was easy for him though because he was bald, I had a head of overly-hair sprayed hair to protect.

Sometimes in what would appear to be the most miserable conditions we can find our most content self. I know for me when stimuli is removed and I have no choice in the matter, like a dead cell phone, that there is a certain sense of release in not having the option. There is such a thing as too many options and for some of us, always looking for the next best thing interferes with what we have now. More is not always better and even "better," is not always a solution. Instead, sit in the discomfort of wanting something, you might just find that you couldn't be more content than you are right now.

God Bless.

My discontentment in life destroyed my 20s, though it was helpful to experience pain so I could appreciate the pleasure. Click Here.