This is a weekly installment of Suzette Andujar’s column series, “As I was saying.”

There are many things that are weird: locks on a 24-hour store and self-driving cars. I did a little research on the word ‘weird’ and found that a few centuries ago, the meaning was totally different from how we know it now.

Weird used to mean ‘fate’ and ‘destiny.’ It wasn’t until Shakespeare associated it with witches called the Weird Sisters, that the word came to mean ‘bizarre’ and ‘different.’ Weird things are subjective however, there is one weird thing that everyone can agree upon: the weather. Weather is totally weird!

I mean come on, we are left in confusion on a day to day basis. On a given autumn day our weather apps say that it’s going to be sixty degrees and we pull out our turtlenecks and travel mugs filled with hot cocoa and say to a stranger on the elevator, “Isn’t it great that it finally feels like fall?” The person would reply, “Absolutely fabulous!” Right before bed we’d lay out our knit sweaters and wool socks to wear for the next day, snuggle by the fire, and roast some chestnuts.

The next autumn day, we don’t check the weather app because we know in our warmest heart of hearts that it’s going to be another crisp, fall day. Before we head out, we don’t forget to fill that travel mug with cocoa. With a light hearted grin, we go outside and are shocked to get a smack of muggy air. Disbelief ensues. We check that weather app and yes, it says sixty degrees, but with a careful scroll we see that it also says ninety-five percent humidity. We meet a stranger on the elevator and say, “Man! What’s going on with that weather yo?!” The person would be all, “I know right! I’m wearin’ shorts!” And we’d be all, “What’s up with that?!” And the person would be all, “The weather is so weird!” And we’d be like, “True. That.”

The weather is unpredictable and the meteorologists are just as confused as all of us. I can’t wrap my head around how many times the weather people got it wrong. They’d say, “Looks like a clear, sunny day for Friday with a tiny chance of a passing rain cloud.” Friday comes and suddenly it’s, “We did not see two-feet of snow. This took us all by surprise!” Ya don’t say Mr. Weatherman. Ya don’t say.

There’s nothing left to do, of course, than to accept our fate; the weather will always control our lives. In saying that, I now believe that the weather encompasses the old and new meanings of the word ‘weird.’ It is our destiny to wear turtlenecks one day and wife-beaters the next leading to the endless amounts of stuffy noses and trips to the doctor that turns out to only be post-nasal drip. Shakespeare was onto something when he wrote, “Fair is foul and foul is fair; hover through the fog and filthy air.” You got that right.

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