Alaskan winters are like childbirth. This came to me as I slogged through the mud and muck of breakup. By the end of each winter, Alaskans are wondering how they will ever face another and begin to think about moving out. It’s just like a mother giving birth who wonders why she ever thought it was a good idea and swears she’ll never do it again. But then she sees her baby, has that fog of amnesia fill her brain and voila! she has another baby. And so we Alaskans, after a summer of rainy, cold and foggy weather, develop amnesia about the true rigors of winter, think only of the beauty of the white wonderland we are privileged to inhabit, ignore the memory of ice on the roads and snow loads on our roofs, and welcome back the first flurries of fall.
In both cases, the people involved can successfully plead diminished capacity in any court of law.