white inspired

The snow.

The snow!

It was very late in coming this winter, but today was worth the wait. It started as the tiny blustery kind of flakes that blow sideways and even manage to get up your nose. As the day wore on it shifted to a slow-motion cascade of white fluff that fell on the night like a curtain of sweet winter silence.

It beckoned the winter baby. And naturally, she grabbed her dog. Dogs love winter, right?

I thought he would be as excited as I was to get out in it and run around. However, as he saw me pull his doggie jacket and 4 little doggie boots from the hall closet, he headed swiftly under the couch. Being that I am even more strong-willed than he is, the boots went on, velcro tightened one by one, and soon we were heading down the freshly shovelled driveway into the not-so-freshly plowed street.

Suddenly he wished he was much taller. He didn't quite know what to do with all this snow, or how to act like a real dog dressed in a red coat and 4 booties with reflective stripes sewn right in. I pictured him hoping we wouldn't run into any other dogs who would see him dressed like this.

Obviously I didn't care how I looked. As I walked, my thighs were frozen, but nothing else was. My hat was flattening my hair, but kept my ears warm. And my frumpy down jacket is absolutely priceless in this weather, no matter what my daughter says. Without it I wouldn't be able to bear the winter, let alone enjoy it like I did tonight.

We got halfway down the street when the dog took a turn. He wrestled with his boots, trying to shake them off. Apparently they cramped his style. I think they made him run funny too. In fact, from behind he looked like a rabbit. When one boot finally disappeared in the snow, I had mercy and took him home. Then I went back out to look for the missing boot and didn't come back for 45 minutes.

It was just so magical out there. Everything was quiet, muffled by the snow. Couldn't hear the cars for nothin. I shuffled through foot-deep snow, light and sparkly like diamond dust as I kicked my way along. The pines were holding every ounce of snow they could possibly bear. Wow. I walked down a path usually busy with dogwalkers and kids riding bikes, past a babbling brook, not a soul in sight.

No sign of life, but so alive.

I rounded the corner and came upon a house with all white Christmas lights that shone through the falling snow. White, white and more white. I looked up to a streetlight and noticed how incredibly beautiful the snow looked falling beneath it. I felt like this moment had been waiting for me. Do I have to go home yet?

To anyone who shoveled two hours ago, or even one hour ago, your work was in vain. The edges of your sidewalk and driveway have disappeared again, rounded by the new snow that fell as soon as you turned around to put your shovel away. But it's so much more beautiful this way.

I don't care that I have a road trip tomorrow morning. I don't care that I'll have to shovel again, maybe twice. It feels protective in a way. Certainly something new and pretty. I may not be too happy to see it in March, but today for sure it can stay.

P.S. I found the missing boot.