Winter, a Love-Hate Relationship

When I was young, I was envious of my classmates who went south with their family in the middle of winter and came home with a tan. Because my family couldn’t afford this luxury, I was motivated very early to save my money so I could do the same. Finally at 19 I went back packing in Mexico and came back in the middle of winter with a tan. I was hooked on travelling. No more cold winters for me!

When I toured with Cirque du Soleil, we literally followed the sun from city to city. The tent had to be set up where the weather was clement because, on a daily basis, we lived partially outdoors. The crew and performers moved constantly from one tent to another. I loved it! Pulling up stakes every couple of months provided a change of scenery and setting. It was perfect.

After Cirque, I was offered regular performing contracts in San Francisco. The weather was sublime – sunny and 21˚ every day. I wondered how anyone got anything done because all I wanted to do during the day was to bask in the beautiful weather. As incredible as it was, I found myself starting to miss the distinct seasons, the changing colours, different smells and vacillating temperatures.

This year I am certainly embracing the change of seasons more than ever before.

Fast forward to 2020. This year I am certainly embracing the change of seasons more than ever before. My husband and I have been self-isolating since March. Like many, we have not travelled, nor have we been working (performing). The seasons have been providing us with all the change we need. We have barely left our own property. Ironically, we are busier than ever. In spring, we put in a new garden and installed a new fence. During the summer, we weeded and worked on house projects that we had neglected due to work or health issues. Throughout the fall, we have been preparing for winter. We have been itching to get into a creative space as to how we can begin performing once again but we have not had time! 

Believe it or not, I cannot wait for winter! We will finally be able to hunker down and start being creative – writing performing material, exploring how we can perform online, creating new choreography, playing music. Hopefully winter will provide us with some downtime for this to happen, in between bringing in wood and shovelling snow! Luckily we will not often have to clear off the car as I don’t think we will be going out much! 

This December marks 2 years since my kidney transplant, I am forever grateful.

Andrea Conway
A transplant-surviving, Covid-isolated, and a tap dancing clown