Because the world changes when it snows…
Here’s how a simple snowfall can inspire nostalgia & reset our perspective of the world.
Today we’re having our first significant snowfall. By “significant” I mean that more than just a few illusionary flakes are floating through the air, banding together, and agreeing upon an area they wish to blanket on the ground. There is enough to remind us to carefully pace ourselves when out and about.
Unless we’ve had horrible experiences with frostbite, avalanches, and being snowed in with nothing more than a jar of strawberry jelly in our apartment, for the most part, snow is nostalgic.
On days like this, when the sky seems to twist its colors into a teasingly bluish-grey hue and the air seems to feel a bit stiffer against my face, I can’t help but be reminded of the character “Lorelai” in the dreamy pop-culture-infused television show, Gilmore Girls. I can see her now, closing her eyes, sticking her nose in her air, inhaling deeply, and with a grin that begins to form across her face before she even opens her eyes, she says “I smell snow…Close your eyes and breathe….Can’t you smell it? I love snow…Everything is magical when it snows. Everything looks pretty. The world changes when it snows. It gets quiet. Everything softens.”
She says this because there are times when the world is not so soft. When it is harsh, crass, and rips you apart.
There are times when the world is not so quiet. When it is loud,obnoxious, and plays on at piercing and deafening levels.
There are times when the world is not so magical. When it is bleak and ugly. When all is stale and the stars and sparks have taken on a dismal appearance.
Whatever the cause may be, there are days like that.
We are often times bloated with images and stories of terror plots, political animals, weary wars, iconic deaths, rancorous work environments, familial discord, and tedious illnesses. These things swirl around us and we take it all in, put one foot in front of the other, and do our best to plow through it. Even though it is nearly impossible to wipe the muck off of our shoes at the end of the day and we end up carrying it all with us.
But there comes a point in all of our lives when we have to put it all to a stop. Whatever that stop means for you, you do it. Some days, the stop can be active, angry, and passionate. It can be wild and lead us to a coup. But other times, the stop may be quiet and contemplative. It can be sober and muted in its efforts.
Today, my kind of stop would be the sleeping kind. It’s the kind of sleep you do when being awake is no longer an option. I was so overworked, overwhelmed, and overstimulated that it seemed, initially, like a shut-down of sorts.
I awake to find myself lying on the couch, cocooned in a blanket that I don’t even recall wrapping around myself. I slowly lift my head and see the snow.
It’s as if I was seeing it for the first time ever. Perhaps, it is the color of the sky, or the fact that the sun is fading away in the distance and a greyish tone has overtaken my little corner of the world. Perhaps, because the snow appears to drop from the clouds as if by magic, floating effortless to the ground in what seems more like a graceful choreographed dance than a fall, I find myself in a most beautiful moment. In this space and time, life makes sense, and it become’s clear that this moment is more of a re-boot than a shut-down.
Lorelai explained that at the age of 5, after being sick in bed for a week, she wished really hard for something wonderful to happen to her. The next morning, she woke up and there it was…the snow.
A blanket of fresh white snow is nature’s way of saying “Here is a little bit of nostalgia for you. I won’t tell you which memories to recall or how to remember them. I won’t tell you how to see the world once it all thaws away. This is my gift to you. Use it, experience it, color it any way you want.”
As I stare at the tree in the backyard, solid and stoic despite the flurry of activity around it, it encourages and reminds me that, once in a while, it’s okay to stop and let the world spin madly on…
Today, this is our something wonderful.
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Love that–“everything softens”–so true, all the rough edges are covered so all we see is a bright white, glistening blanket over everything; making everything seem new and clean again–even if for a moment. Although the aftermath of this blizzard will be ‘inconvenient’, it did force us to be still for a bit and, as you said, STOP.