Meeting Winter 2015 - Bundling Up and Hunkering Down

 

I'm from Palm Springs. I grew up knowing Summers that lasted 10 months out of the year. Heat stroke, dust storms, and sunburns were all too familiar.  It was almost 100 degrees on our wedding day - in DECEMBER!  Good ole Summer...I know you well.  And yet, I'd been told there were other seasons....seasons with colorful leaves, blooming flowers, and rain showers.  Those seasons sounded so alluring.  My husband and I moved to Houston in 2007 and I finally experienced Fall and Spring (in a Houston kind of way). These seasons were so new to me and I loved them! But, at 32 years old, I had still never met Winter. Before our move to TN I had never seen snow fall.  Winter was the elusive season I had only seen in Thomas Kincaid paintings and Holiday cards.  Winter was that season that the old books described as a time of "bundling up" and "hunkering down" until Spring.  It seemed like such a peaceful time of planning, reflection, and togetherness.  

Moving to TN, I knew I would finally have my chance.  So, when we got 1/2" of snow in November I jumped up and down like a little school girl and ran out to take pictures.  But, that wasn't really Winter.  We got another dusting in January, but that wasn't really Winter.  We had some warm spells as we charged through February and I started to lose hope. But, just as I pulled out my potting soil and seeds to prepare for the spring garden, Winter arrived.

And it really is lovely!

 

 

 

 

Now that I've experienced "hunkering down" after a snow storm and waiting for the roads to thaw, "bundling up" next to the heater after a mad dash to the mailbox and back, building a snowman with my daughter, dodging snowballs from my husband, dreaming of a spring garden as the snow buries our field, hanging blankets in the doorways to keep the warm air from floating away, sliding across the front yard in my crocs, and digging out the back porch steps for the dog, I have to say: Winter, I'm so very glad to have met you.

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven..." Ecclesiastes 3:1