First Snowfall

The first snowfall of the season never lasts. The herald of the coming season draws our attention with a glistening blanket woven with holiday dreams. As the day wears on, the snow melts, and all we are left with is wet shoes and the tease of a memory jostled.

For me, snow still holds magic. For a moment, when everything is coated like frosted mini-wheats, there is a peace & beauty that is unspoiled. It makes you forget about the things that trouble you, about the late car payment, the unfinished project at work. Snow drifts down and settles on your car like the cat that pads into a room and is suddenly nestled beside you on the couch. Well, most times it does. Sometimes it beats you mercilessly until you collapse beneath 7 feet of the stuff. Thankfully those times are few and far between.

It is always a privilege to see the world through the eyes of a child. My boys both greeted the morning with shouts of delight, proclaiming "it's snow!" And indeed it was. Not a headache, or a nuisance, something to shovel, or the reason I was late. Just snow.

For one day each year, I am taken back to a time when the innocence of childhood replaces everything else.