31 January 2007

snowy musings

tipped with snow i miss my old relationship with snow. that tingle of excitement when i first saw the flakes or heard someone call out "it's snowing!" no other type of weather in my experience, brings about that same childlike exclamation. you don't run to the window and shout "it's sunny" or "it's raining" in quite the same way.

there's more a sense of awe or magic to snow, somehow. perhaps it's the delicacy, the bright whiteness, the fact that it makes something beautiful of the painful cold. but i never recall being upset about snow as a child. it meant any number of good things: no school, building snowmen, snowforts, snowball fights, bundling up and simply crunching through the snow, snow angels, sledding, snow ice cream (did anyone else do this??). okay, i thought of one thing that might've disgruntled me - shoveling the sidewalk & driveway. but that's just one thing. and that often ended up including a snowball fight - so not all bad.

a good tool
now, snow makes me think of: scraping my car windows, super slow driving, car accidents, nasty grey slush, wet jean legs. last year when i moved to LA - i was so excited that i'd never have to scrape my windows again. (alas)



snow orbs
i still can't help but appreciate: the colour of the sky and the deep silence of a snowy night, snow falling, the crunch of snow underfoot, how my cheeks sting when i enter a warm room after walking in the cold, the moment before there are any footprints in the snow, ice-encased nature.

i just wish my initial reaction was still excitement and wonder.

(maybe if i had a chauffer?)

3 comments:

  1. "Snow ice cream." Yes, please.

    "Wonder" is a precious word, yes? It seems to be a better way to live. It also seems the world is especially made to beat it out of us--a result of the fall no doubt. Have you ever met a cynical 2 year old? I haven't. God give us wonder...

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  2. Amen.

    have you ever made snow ice cream?

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  3. i must admit that the 2 year old still comes out in me when the first few snows of the season hit. i still go to the window every 4 minutes to check the snow's progress. i still can't help but bundle up against the freeze and tromp outside, even if just for a moment. and i still partake in the childlike game of trying to make as few "prints" in the snow as possible.

    however, when the joy of the storm is gone and the frigid cold sets in, well, i think it is then that the child in me is squelched. no fank you!

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