You should see this. You really should be seeing this.

In the Midwest, the winters are brutal. Duh, Byron. Duh. But sometimes something happens. I don't know if the winds blow a different direction or Weather God looks down on Chicago and says: Dude, I've been rough on them for far too long. Here! And then Weather God sprinkles sixty degree temperatures on to Chicago, but today is a day you should be seeing.

Everything is thawing. The sun is shining. People are smiling. Dude. People are smiling. One more time for those that aren't catching my drift: People. Are. Smiling.

Don't get me wrong. People smile in the Midwest. Actually, we are smiley people. We just don't smile in winter when it's negative temperatures and when we are questioning why we even live in this sort of climate. It's almost as if we go in to a frozen state ourselves. For almost, what, four months we begin hardening. It's almost as if we are freezing from the inside just to acclimate with our environment. Our brains function on different levels in the cold. We turn in to walking winters.

But it's on days like this where you see why people choose to live in Chicago.

Like the cold snow turning in to luke warm puddles, people are starting to melt. People are wearing less clothing so we look like humans again and not puffy polar bears. People are wearing sunglasses because we actually want to be outside long enough to have to block our eyes. People are strolling instead of racing to destinations with fists punched in their coat pockets. People are smiling. People are happy. People are unthawing.

It makes us not so "frost-bitter" about some of the more challenging things in everyday life.

Sure. This warmth is probably going to last for, I'd say, a weekend. It will go all negative million degrees, gray, snow, freeze and our winter coats with have our fists in the pockets again. But it's just nice not to feel so numb.

You should feel this. You really should be feeling this.