Silence

For the past three days, we have been living under the threat of snow. Normally snow is a great thing, but we live on a very steep street and it is often difficult to get out. While being home bound is usually a blessing in disguise, things need to be done. The kids need to go to school, I need to get to work, blah, blah, blah. So for the past three days we have been preparing. Turning the cars the right way, making sure we have enough milk, shoveling extra gravel onto the driveway. Life has been harried.

Things at work have been brutal as well. My department is severely short staffed and we have an unusually large workload for the season. Every hour has felt like an eternity, and my long commute has been stressful due to the weather. The rain has been so dreadfully constant that the kids haven't been outside for more than a few minutes since last Friday and their little bodies are exploding with misplaced energy.

Tonight, it started. Large wet delicious snow flakes covering the ground in shimmering white. The last rays of the unseen sun casting long blue shadows and soft white highlights. The air is thick. The wind is lulling a song out of our wind chime. Silence.

I took out the trash and stopped on the way back for a moment of reflection. Why does the snow bring so much peace? Standing there with the cold softness and breathy quiet was like letting my soul exhale after holding its breath for far too long.