“What
good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”
John Steinbeck, Travels
with Charley: In Search of America
I saw the
beauty in the blizzard and embraced the quiet, the silence that surrounded us
in the country, the landscape devoid of birds, animals, sounds of traffic on
the road, the scraping of snow plows, even the wind. Last weekend Mother Nature
showered us with 40 inches of snow in approximately 36 hours. We watched through
our windows as the snow accumulated on the trees, the deck, the trash bins, the
bird feeders. Hour by hour depth increased until we were enveloped in the
silence of the brilliant, pure, crystalline white.
As the
flakes continued to fall we celebrated the opportunity to curl into our the
warmth of our comfortable cocoon-like home that was filled with inviting flames
within the fireplace, the soft furry purring bodies of our cats sought refuge
next to us and the smells and tastes of comfort food.
For me a day
of huddling inside while watching the snow accumulate is a healing,
recuperative, meditative experience. The silence is magical, peaceful,
beautiful and restorative.
I am a
summer girl, born in the midst of July, a child of the moon. I embrace the heat
of the sun, the feel of the warmth on my skin even when there is no breeze and
the beauty of abundant flowers and plants, the aroma of vegetation and summer
rains that create steam, and the sounds of thunder and cicadas and birds
singing. But I can only appreciate the joys of summer after hibernating through
winter, regenerating my body and soul, and soaking up the silence of a snow
day.
Steinbeck is
one of my favorite authors and this quote really speaks to me. The stark cold
silence of winter helps me to appreciate the warm, joyful, carefree days of
summer. I am grateful for the blizzard and for my learned ability to embrace
the opportunity to just be and experience the silence.
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