Page 71 - FLIPBOOK ALL SOM WINTER 2022_Neat

GRANNY WAS

RIGHT... SORT OF!

wearing the RIGHT layers will
keep you warm

bryant helgeland

o you always end up cold when you play in
the snow?

DIf you’re like me growing up you always
heard “layers, layers, layers.” My grandma
always said, “If you’re cold, put a hat on.” She also
insisted that hats are to be worn outside, not inside.
I’m not sure how she squared that with being cold in
the house, but I knew better than to question a 30-year
veteran of teaching farm kids in a one-room school. I
learned my lesson on the way back from church one
winter when we were visiting Grandma and Grandpa
in northern Wisconsin. My sisters and I were being
rowdy in the back seat of the car. She warned us not
to make her stop the car. We’ve all heard that phrase
before but she meant it! We kept being rowdy and she
stopped the car and said “Get out!” We protested that it
was near zero degrees outside and there was a foot of
snow. She said, “I know, get out of the car.”

“But Grandma, we’re miles from your house.”

“I know, I told you to calm down, you didn’t, now get
out of the car.” She followed us for what felt like miles
but was probably more like a few hundred yards. When
she stopped, she asked us if we were going to behave.
We all said “Yes,” and she allowed us back in the back
seat for probably the quietest car ride of our lives. That
was the last time we questioned Grandma!

When I was a kid I thought “layers” meant looking like
Ralphie in A Christmas Story. The more time I spent
outdoors in the cold, the more I learned just how wrong
Ralphie’s parents were. Yes, layers are important, but
what type of layers and how they’re implemented is
way more important than merely the quantity of layers.

winter 2022 | www.southernoregonmagazine.com 69