It's snowing

            As anyone from the Midwest is aware, the first snow of the season is an exciting adventure. It brings out the lovers and haters of snow. I believe if we could arrange for the snow to only fall in certain places and to leave roads, runways and sidewalks alone, everyone would enjoy it. Snow is beautiful to watch from a window and even to play in for a little while. If the snow is the right texture you can get creative with your snowman and fort building skills. As a child, my siblings and I would spend a lot of time playing the snow, returning inside with woolen mittens caked with mini snowballs, which we place on the heat register to dry so we could go back out in a few hours and do it all again. I will never forget pulling out the bread bags which we would put over our feet and into our boots for waterproofing (yeah, right) and insulation.
I have always lived in Northern Illinois and without fail every winter, driving skills of the general public decrease exponentially with the first snow, it is quite frustrating. There are 2 speeds that occur; too fast or too slow. While caution is required, the overcautious are the subjects of ridicule. One secretly hopes the speed demon will find a ditch very soon. We bemoan the length of time it takes for the snow plow to reach our neighborhoods. But down deep, I believe we feel somehow victorious that we ‘survive’ the challenge. All these behaviors are as predictable as the rising of the sun.
As we received warnings for a few days before our first snow hit last night, the stores became progressively busier and crazier. People prepare to be snowed in and hunker down for a few days. In spite of the moaning and groaning, there is a warmth and coziness that makes this a lovely time of year. Snow is a blessing. It draws us inward to our families and brings out warm memories of seasons past, we share stories of previous snow adventures with the next generation and they actually want to hear them. It wasn’t too long ago people were complaining of the heat; are we ever happy with the weather?
I’ll be doing some cleaning, sorting, snoring and giving thanks as I snuggle into a warm blanket and watch the snow fall. I have no agenda to today’s blog but I will give credit to my friend Yoshe (not the video game) who pointed out the quietness that snowfall brings and reminded me this morning to; “Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10


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