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By Josh Moss, editor, Louisville Magazine. 2.6.26

We recently asked the group this quick (OK, maybe not the most enlightening) multiple-choice question: 

That breakdown looks like this:

What gets me more than anything is…

Part of the reason we asked it was because, despite all of the complaints many of us have this time of year, we wondered how we’d answer…

Apart from things I absolutely have to do, I’ve been willing to go out and freeze my butt off for __________.

A handful of us filled in the blank like this: “Almost anything — I love this weather! I grew up in Wisconsin, so it feels like home.” Folks helped friends and neighbors shovel their driveways, go on grocery runs, get stranded cars out of, as one of us described it, “that smashed-down snow that basically becomes an ice rink.” So many people mentioned still getting out for exercise — at the Y, barre class, dance class, yoga class at the J, pilates, marathon training, lap swimming at Mary T. And lots of hiking in our parks and forests, that winter-specific solitude at Shawnee, Jefferson Memorial Forest, Bernheim, Seneca, Waterfront Park. 

Here’s more of what the group had to share:

Apart from things I absolutely have to do, I’ve been willing to go out and freeze my butt off for __________.

“Actors Theatre, Jagged Little Pill performance by Time Slip Theater. Fell in a snowbank trying to get into an Uber. Worth it.”

“Beer.” 

“Bourbon.”

“Costco.”

“Sledding with my eight-year-old granddaughter.”

“Locals Food Hub & Pizza Pub on East Broadway.”

“Eggplant parm at Silvio’s in St. Matthews.”

“Smoked brisket panini from Lotsa Pasta.”

“Dinner this weekend. Looking forward to meeting friends because I NEED to see a human other than my husband and consume a meal I didn’t make.”

“Chick-fil-A for my whining children.”

“A picture of the snow accumulating on our deck rail, which I call the Deck Rail Report.”

“Basically just picking up packages off the porch.”

“More wood for the fireplace.”

“Not a damn thing.”

“Packing the car, cleaning the windows and headlights, gassing up for a trip southward to get the hell out of the cold!”

“Sorry, but I am in Florida, so I cannot honestly answer this one.” 

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Several folks sent in a “snow experience” photo. (One person even included a sort of Louisville winter trifecta: chowder, chili, cocktail.)

“The playground at Iroquois Park on a Sunday, untouched.”

“My first 1,000-piece ever!”

“The Swallowtail Forest School students at Louisville Nature Center weren’t fazed by the snow one bit.”

“My youngest hauling icy chunks back from the snowbanks to our front yard, so he could build a fort. Hours of creative fun — the part of snow I love. But if the city and JCPS can’t find a way to collaborate to get kids back in school, I’m going to lose my mind. That’s the part of all this that I hate.”

“Late-afternoon sun, deer on a hillside in Cherokee Park.”

“Pilot the Paper-Delivery Pup.”

“Duke and Earl ain’t digging the snow.”

“Our pups and kids love getting out.”

“A gift from the Louisville Metro Government snowplows.”

“Sledding shrapnel seems like a metaphor for…something?”

And from the sorry-not-sorry department…

“I just happened to leave the day before the snow for a trip to Naples, Florida, with girlfriends from high school. The guilt, the guilt….”

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Would love to know how you’d answer too:

Apart from things I absolutely have to do, I’ve been willing to go out and freeze my butt off for __________.

And if you know someone who’s the kind of person interested in exploring what’s best and what might be a bit better about Louisville, we’d love for you to nominate them to join the group that answers our weekly questions. Lemme know: josh@louisville.com

More soon. — Josh