Snow-calm

After sitting in conference sessions (good ones!) all day, I needed a walk and fresh air. So, for dinner, I got directions to some restaurants about a half mile from the hotel and headed out.

It felt good to be outside. The sun was going down but it wasn't super cold. The air was refreshing, and I was glad to be outside, even if it was going-home traffic instead of the sounds of nature I enjoy in my walks at home. I walked briskly, checking out two different shopping areas, eventually found a place to eat, and then started back to the hotel after I was done.

By now, it was dark, and as I started walking, snow started falling. At first the snowfall was so light that I almost didn't notice it. A flake here and there finally caught my eye. Then, more and more fell. While I waited for an interminable light to change so that I could cross a wide, busy street, I realized that it was snowing enough that I would be snowy when I got back to the hotel--especially if the light stayed red much longer!

But the light did, eventually, change, and I was able to get to the hotel before the heavy snow came down and turned me into a snow-woman. Still, white flakes were sticking to my black coat, and, staring at them, I realized that I usually don't walk during a snowfall anymore. I have in the past, especially growing up in Alaska, but I can't remember (specifically) the last time I did it. I love to watch the snow falling while I'm warm inside my house. If I am outside, I usually hurry through the snowfall to the car or the house, trying to get out of it as fast as I can.

But tonight it felt very good to be out in the start of a snowfall. I felt like lingering. The world seems to settle and quiet when snow falls--and I felt the same quieting in my soul. The stresses and worries that we call carry around with us seem to melt away when the snow begins to fall. I wonder how the world might be better if we all walked for a few minutes in the quietly falling snow more often.