Commuter Series #2: Snow

Snow means different things to different people. When you’re a kid snow is all about getting days off from school playing with your friends. Trying to slide down a hill so fast you think your face is going to melt off. But as an adult, snow is more of an inconvenience.

When I see it on the forecast, it usually this means I have to get up about an hour earlier than I usually do because I will inevitably have to dig and scrape and push the snow in order to unearth my car. Then, once I'm actually in my car and driving everything is wet ,everything is gloomy, I have to watch out for ice, and don't get me started on people who don't know how to properly drive in the snow.

Growing up on the east coast of the United States I've seen my fair share of snow. This cold March morning I went about my usual routine of getting up a little bit earlier, putting on my jacket and generally getting ready to knock the snow off of my car and begin my commute. Usually, I'm not a fan of the color the sky gets when it snows. Unlike the Counting Crows, gray is not my favorite color. But this morning the sky was a pretty, milky grey and the earth had the quiet voice it can only get when it snows. I think I read an article once that explained why the earth gets so quiet when it snows, but I like to believe that the snow creates its own special magic. It's like a little secret that the snow is keeping, almost like it's protecting us from the outside world for a little while.

My commute is mostly highway so my view of nature is limited at best. Casual glances between cars, slightly peeking over the sound barriers, generally unassuming. The grass and trees are easy to ignore if you look at them everyday. But this morning I couldn't help but notice how beautiful the trees were sprinkled with snow - as if someone had taken a giant bowl of powdered sugar and scattered it lightly across all of the branches.

Generally speaking, I'm not a fan of snow. But it's not so bad when it's not sticking to the road and I can watch it falling from the sky or when I can enjoy it from inside my house, through the window with my cat and my husband curled up next to me.

Sometimes I wish I could still look at snow in the same way as I did when I was a kid. And we still do sometimes (in the last big snow, we made snow angels!). But I know it's hard to do that now. I think one of the main reasons is because snow for a kid is the creator of plans but as an adult snow is a ruiner of plans. That might be a sad way of looking at it, but it's true more often than not. At least for me.

But today, the snow was nice change in scenery - quite literally! So I’ll enjoy watching it while it lasts!

#commuterseries #snow #friday