random access, non-linear, glob

It’s winter again. Snowing. This has been a very wintry winter. If I live here for another 30 years, there’s this thing I’ll forget every year. I’ll never remember that we actually have winter. Sure it’s no Maple Leaf winter, but y’all don’t have to deal with 15 consecutive 105º days in July. 91º at midnight. Probably feels cooler to y’all any way because you’ve got fewer degrees up there. It’s a lot different down here. You have 0º, down here it’s a balmy 32º and we’re still freezing just like you. Every year in December, I think, man its great here – 60º Christmas. Then January blows in and I might as well be up north.
So it snowed this morning, early. Patches of snow stayed on the ground all day, about a half inch deep. That in its self is an accomplishment ‘round here. A couple years ago we got about 8 inches in less than an hour but it took it less time than that to melt away. This evening, Allison decided a fire would be nice. We finally got our fireplace inspected, so I dashed off to Lowe’s through frigid temps and spitting snow, sleet and ice, to get a grate for this evening’s cuddly warmth. Fireplace grate? We put those away already. If we had any, they’d be over there with the tiki torches, bug zappers and patio furniture. Home Depot. No honey, those are seasonal. How about snow tires then, ‘cause I’ve got to drive seasonally back to my house in this weather.
When I got home, Bing and the kids were going nuts. “Dad, Bing has never seen snow fall.” What? I guess winter in Honolulu is even better than Columbia. So it seems that she’s seen snow on the ground, even been sledding; but has never seen it fall. She called her parents to tell them about it. “What’s it look like? Take a picture.” Guess winter in Manila is pretty good too.
So we turned on the lights outside and sat in the warmth behind the glass and watched it fall. Watched it try to decide between tiny, hard crystals, and big fluffy flakes. Finally, it gave up. A sixteenth of an inch all over the yard.
I sat and practiced a while and thought about sledding without ever having seen snow fall. Because I’m so weird, lots of metaphors came to mind. Enjoy freedom, never fought for it. Reap the harvest that someone else has sown. Aftermath of revival, without having seen the spirit move. I want to be in on the stuff. How does one get to see the flakes fall? Ya gotta put yourself where it is happening. Kinda like getting rebounds. Gotta know where the ball is going to be and get there.
So I’m sitting here with a rifle and a basketball, eating sunflower seeds, looking out the window at the white lawn. Just kidding.
I’m going to go slide under the warm covers. Supposed to be 70º by Saturday.