Happy New Year! Here in the northeast, this holiday tends to be a chilly affair, and 2015 was no exception. It wasn't the coldest New Year's Day we've ever had, with temps hovering in the upper 20's to low 30's, but it's the sort of weather that discourages long walks or outdoor activities--unless you're a skier, skater or what is known as a "polar plunger." It's a label worn with pride in my family.
Each year, the intrepid and mentally unsound in my clan eagerly anticipate this day. They don skimpy clothing, and take a bracing plunge in the arctic-feeling waters of Lake George, New York. It has it's good points: the event entry fee benefits charity, and the local bar opens at dawn in order to provide plunging patrons plenty of liquid courage. It extends our holiday season of familial camaraderie, and provides stories and laughs that we relive often throughout the year--and for many years to come. The drawback: it's friggin' COLD!
Lest you think I am particularly brave or unbalanced, I state for the record that I join the ranks of bystander in this yearly event, yet my role is vital to the overall success of this adventure. You see, I document, in photos and video, all the crazy goings-on. It's a process which starts a full year earlier, when talk around the holiday table eventually swings around to "What theme shall we choose next year for the Polar Plunge?" That's right folks, not only does my silly tribe (and that includes my extended family) engage in a yearly dip into frigid water, but they do it in costume. It's kind of a Halloween-meets-wilderness-challenge sort of thing, and this year's theme--ER doctors, nurses, and a perfectly mangled patient on a stretcher--kept the streak alive.
Like last year, this season's participants made it into the local newspapers. And within an hour of the event, we were all sitting around a table at "Pizza Jerks" restaurant, soggy, but sated, recounting this year's heroics. We scrolled through pictures I took, watched my video, and trolled the Internet to discover whether the newspaper sites had uploaded any photos onto their website. We compared this year's medical theme to last year's construction-worker scenario, and decided this year was definitely superior. And of course, this year's 47-degree water temperature was preferable to last year's 35 degrees (with the air a balmy 18 degrees last year. Yikes!). We laughed, teased, playfully taunted each other, and discovered a way to enjoy ourselves outdoors, and within the circle of our family. Isn't that what the holiday spirit is all about?
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