Snow Angels

Snow angels are a rite of winter… one I haven't indulged in for many years... until this week.

It happened something like this: I was, quite innocently, making my way to the mailbox to deposit the bi-weekly letter to my missionary son, the one filled with pictures and news and the latest happenings... just the way he likes them.

I miss my son and my thoughts were filled with the hope of his return, wondering if he would appreciate the letter, if it would sufficiently fill the void from home… if it would give him joy.

Being thus absorbed, I didn't remember the ice at the end of the driveway. When I hit it, my feet flew right out from under me and, after some mild flailing in the air, I landed flat on my back.

In my mind, it was rather comic. Just like a cartoon, I landed with a giant "Ploomph!" The snow was fresh, powdery deep and it was much like landing on a giant feather bed... except somehow softer.

As I layed there in the driveway... in the dark... all alone… trying to figure out what had just happened… a smile began to slowly spread over my face.

Snow angels… how many years had it been since I'd made one?

Without further delay, I spread my arms and legs up and down, back and forth, and made a perfectly respectable angel right then and there... after which I rested a few minutes longer… just since it was so quiet in the night and SO comfortable in the snow.

After all, it was the country. You can do such things without anyone to know it. I could have done it in my undies if I wanted to... but that would have been cold.

Finally, after I had my little rest (and began to feel the snow melt through my clothes), I hauled myself out, deposited Bear’s letter into our rural (ie: old, beaten and riddled with buckshot) mailbox and returned to the house.

It's been snowing quite a bit around here lately. We've had several storms just in the past week or so... 4" here, 8" there, 2 inches around and in between… and tonight they're saying we may even get another 5 or 6… or so. It could, possibly, just maybe, even be preceded by ice which could cancel church.

I love the snow! I always have and I suppose I always will! There is something about it that utterly thrills my soul. It cleanses the earth, neatly covers every little ugly, gray or just plain brown thing, and transforms the world into a crystalline wonderland.

Gorgeous!

Magnificent!

Amazing!

After a storm, while the lovely fresh flakes are still bound to the bark on the sides of trees, all I can do is marvel in awe of the elegance of winter. Mother Nature's artistry. God's pristine gift to a dreary winter world.

Even now, to glance outside, it is everywhere. There is a huge snow "wave" on the barn roof, where the wind has piled it into a beautiful, billowing surge of whiteness. Miniature avalanches have been cascading from the steep roof of our home, spraying clouds of sparkling whiteness to the ground.

All the world seems just a little purer from a good snow. People slow down and light a fire in the stove; they grab a blanket and a cup of hot cocoa, maybe with a dollop of whip cream on top, they fix meals of comfort food, read a book or just chat with their loved ones, caressing hearts, embracing minds and sharing that precious commodity called down time.

Watching those heavenly flakes float down, reminds me of angels spilling some sort of ethereal powdered sweetness all over the sublunary world... the earth is covered in alabaster powder, a playground for poetic imagination.

This week, as I was attempting to reclaim our driveway from its captor dunes of frozen deliquescence, a full moon began to rise over the yonder hills and trees which form the pastoral boundaries of our home. As each pass of powder flew through the air, landing atop the growing periphery banks, it seemed as if sparkling diamonds blew, trysting amongst themselves through the air, refracting the moon's perfect incandescence and then falling, softly, gently, still glittering in their resignation back to their mother earth.

It was beautiful...

It was heavenly...

It was quiet…

And peaceful…

Lovely and pure...

And that is what I see and love about the snow.