I had forgotten that. It sounds like a barely-remembered childhood memory of something my mother used to say.
"Cold shahpens the mind." Estelle would say, her Boston accent lending its weight of authority on all topics weather-related.
Cold sharpens the mind.
Maybe she said it. Maybe she didn't. But I feel it as much as hear it - which is ever-so-slightly but unmistakably audible.
But I didn't KNOW it.
Living in LA will do that; its nearly-always-warm-and-sunny-non-weather will unwind a lifetime of wonderful childhood memories.
Memories of jumping into a pile of just-raked leaves on a cool, bright and clear late-Autumn day, where the air arounds you is as crisp as the dead, fallen leaves you are digging your way out of and the dog has just gleefully plunged into.
Memories of sledding down the hill that looked so big when you were little and seems impossibly small when you occasionally visit the New England neighborhood where you were raised.
Memories of icicles melting on the fronts of rooftops and white snow giving way to green, green grass as Spring announces its coming and the first buds begin to form.
LA takes those memories and puts them in a storage space in Van Nuys that you pay for with an automatic monthly withdrawal from your Wells Fargo account which you never check so you soon forget all about what is stored there. But.
Cold sharpens the mind.
I had completely forgotten, because I hadn't been cold, truly cold, in so long.
That all changed today.
That all changed today because, Today...
Today was cold.
Real cold.
And I had forgotten. Forgotten because I live/have lived so long in LA, where "cold" is what we call a day where wearing a hoodie is only slightly more utilitarian and only slightly less fashion statement.
But I am not in LA. And I had forgotten, but now I remember. I remember it wasn't something my Mother would say. It was something that was just true and everyone who survives climates where real cold exists knows that it is true.
Survives.
I remember now. I remember now that Cold can kill. I am hyper-focused on that fact because it is cold and...Cold.
Sharpens.
The mind.
I remember now because I am alone in the cold and I am ill-prepared. But my mind is sharp. I know these things as clearly as a thing can be known.
1. It is cold.
2. I am alone.
3. No one knows I am here.
(whispered) "Cold shahpens the mind."
The pain in my toes is gone. The sun will rise in five hours or so. I cannot sleep or I will not wake up and I am exhausted. I know all this because...
Cold sharpens the mind.
