First Snow

I have never understood why grown-ups complain when the leaves are all off the trees, and the temperatures take a decided turn towards the zero on the thermometer. I hear complaints about the impending winter weather, and the driving in the snow and ice. We live in Pennsylvania, so I bite my tongue instead of stating the obvious: Maybe you should move to a warmer climate?

I know some people do that. My father is one of them. They are called “snow birds”. In the summer, they live up North, and just when the going gets good (aka… fall hits, and temperatures drop) they go south to their Florida homes. But how is that any better? They aren’t escaping precipitation. Ever hear of a hurricane?

True, it is a warmer climate down south. I can’t deny that. However, when I think of a hurricane ripping the roof off my house and crashing through my dining room windows, it just doesn’t hold the same appeal as watching soft, fluffy snowflakes blanketing the Earth in a quietness while I sit in front of my fireplace sipping hot chocolate, wrapped in a quilt. I guess the beauty of the seasons is in the eye of the beholder.

While I do enjoy all seasons for their uniqueness and differences, I love winter. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I was born in the winter. I don’t know. I just know that when the dew point drops, the air dries out, and that smell! Is there any name for the smell just before it snows? I once posed that question to my husband who promptly answered: “It’s the de-icer I just put down on the walkway”.

We talk about stopping to smell the roses in the Spring, and the “lazy, hazy” days of Summer. We give glory to Fall because of harvest and Thanksgiving. But winter, if you ask me, is the best of all.

The first snowflake means that life is about to slow down, and settle into a calmer pace. After all, who can be out and about so much when the roads are sketchy? The first snowflake means that there is no chance for Summer to rear it’s out of season head and cause uncomfortable humidity and heat. The first snowflake means the earth gets a break. The first snowflake means future quiet evenings with a good book in front of the fire. The first snowflake means that while the plants are sleeping, the moisture has a chance to soak in and create the ability for rebirth in the Spring. The first snowflake means beauty as the brown, dead fields are covered with pristine white.

I still don’t understand why grown-ups complain about winter. As for me, I raise my mug of hot chocolate and mini marshmallows. Vivo inverno!