Snow Days

Growing up in Pittsburgh meant growing up with snow. In that part of the world, it was as common as Steelers memorabilia, Heinz ketchup or people referring to groups as 'yinz' (if you are from Pittsburgh, you can appreciate the references). In my youth I loved it because it could mean days off from school, snowball fights, and sled ridding. Yet as I grew older and found that no one gives grown-ups snow days, my feelings towards the cold winter months were not nearly as cheery. And so I moved south to live in what I believed to be the land of constant sunshine and Indian summers. Unfortunately my time in Tennessee has not been nearly as temperate as I would have hoped. Although we certainly don't see much snow and the extreme cold days never hit, it is often just very gray. And I think I've realized how much my heart is impacted by the weather. Cold months force you indoors and my heart is not nearly as happy there. And so I write this entry on what Tennesseans may consider a snow day, meaning there were flurries that fell within the last twenty four hours though they didn't stick, and I am longing for spring. Longing to throw open the windows and feel the sun. To spend Saturdays in a park or on a hike or by a pool. To join friends at restaurant patios for margaritas. To see life growing everywhere around me and to feel fully alive again.

“The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created spring.” ~Bern Williams