Cold....

Well, the short-term predictions won out over our long-held expectations. It snowed - just like the weather men said, but despite the fact that it is only the 10th day of October. How can something be both right and wrong at the same time? Expected and unheard of? Believalbe but intolerable?

My girls danced in their bare feet on the porch, and later surveyed the scene from each window (all 16!) upstairs, as if they were afraid each window might bring to focus a snowless reality and wake them from their dream world. I, on the other hand, wept silently.

Ok, it wasn't really that bad, but I am not a fan of the cold. Or the snow. Or the ice. I think it stems from having had glasses growing up. You just can't get into the rhythm of a good snowball fight while ducking to clean your glasses after each defensive move. Plus, every winter I lived in a two-minute haze upon entering any building from the great outdoors from the time I was 8 until today. Fogged up glasses do tend to take the joy out of even the most Burle-Ives-esque winter day.

Still, it wasn't all bad. The jaunty blanket did bring the usual crisp, clean look to the landscape. (There's something downright smile-inducing about a Holstein cow contentedly chewing her cud with her black spots more obscured than usual and gleaming whiter all over.) Also, is there a joy more innocent and pure than that of a child dancing over the first snow of the year? If they could bottle that it would surely end even the most acrid of rivalries - with world leaders pushing away from the heretofore fruitless negotiating tables as they joined hands to frolic in the winter splendor around them. The snow didn't make my day, but the smiles of my children sure did.

Another bonus (while I'm in the mood to look on the bright side) was the opportunity to light my first fire in the stove this evening. The air inside was just cool enough to make me want to haul in wood, spend whole minutes crouched with my neck craned to see inside the grate, and fill the house with smoke as I peered into the hopper for a progress report. Glad to know I've still go the touch.

I suppose I should be thankful for the snow - how it reminds me to slow down and enjoy the scenery, see things from a different perspective. How it brightens the days of my children - bringing them to feel a joy I cannot give them through any other means. How it brings me a season of rest and reflection. (With perpetual summer, I am sure I would wear myself out in a few more years.) How it gives me the opportunity to do the most basic of things (make food, clothe my children, make a way to keep them warm) and be cognizant of what a deep and powerful accomplishment those things are.

So, YES - I am glad the snow came. I am grateful in this moment for both the tangible and the esoteric benefits it brought to my home, my perspective, my family, my heart... Most of all, however, I'm thankful that IT STOPPED!