Falling Snow

I’m sitting on the couch watching it snow today. Since my ankle is broken I can’t do much of anything else. I am getting around the house okay on a little knee scooter, which is much easier and feels much safer than crutches, but it hurts my ankle more when I’m moving around. So staying on the couch with my foot elevated seems like the best bet for now. And the couch faces our sliding glass door, and outside the snow is coming down.

Right now the flakes are tiny and falling quickly. Earlier the flakes were fat and shaped like the V-shaped geese we learned to draw in the sky as children, and they drifted down and stuck on the grass. When I woke up there was a fine layer of snow coating the lawn, enough that it looked white but not so much that you couldn’t see the taller leaves sticking up through the blanket. As the day warmed up the snow on the grass and trees has all melted away so that they only way you know it’s snow and not rain is by looking at the flakes themselves and the way they move sideways and swirl around a bit and then land softly, instead of dropping straight down and splashing the way rain does.

I don’t get too many chances to just sit on the couch and watch the snowfall. Usually I am rushing here and rushing there. When it snows I am groaning and dreading the drive to work, since I am needed there regardless of the weather. I am anxious about driving on the slick surface and grumpy about all the inconvenience and extra work the snow will cause. I dislike having to clean off car windows and I really dislike shoveling snow off sidewalks and out from behind my car if we get that much accumulation. I am fretting about who else will make it in to work and what extra tasks might fall to me in someone’s absence. Since my sophomore year in college, when I was snowed in by a freak massive snowfall of 18 inches (it's a lot for this area!), I have dreaded snow each winter.

When I was a kid I loved snow. I loved getting an unexpected day off school. I loved the pristine smooth whiteness in the early morning, unmarred by footsteps. I loved the ice coating branches and leaves, turning everything into a magic fairy landscape. I loved walking in the snow, the quiet and peace of everything hushed and sleeping under a chilly blanket. I loved sitting inside with a warm blanket and a cup of hot chocolate, being hypnotized by the endlessly falling flakes. Today I feel I’ve received a little of that back again, an unexpected gift on a wintry Sunday morning.