Snow fell on Texas. This isn’t a common occurrence and when it does happen it seems time stops just a little bit for those that are graced with its semi-annual presence. Usually, in alternating years snow will sneak up on North Texas and give us a light dusting that becomes the talk of the community. Instagram pages light up with pictures and text messages fly, “It’s snowing.” There is something mystical about snow, especially when it is a rare episode. Snow has this unique ability to bring people together in a state of joy. Kids race outside to play and attempt to build a snowman out of the few dust particles that they can collect and even adventurous adults venture outside to bask in the falling snow.
Adi and I certainly did. It was a Sunday when the snow fell, and I had decided to take an early morning nap after waking early to start the day. I went down for my nap without a hint of snow yet when I awoke, I was surprised to see a winter wonderland before my very eyes. Adi and I went and donned our ski clothes that we had yet to put away from our Colorado ski trip a couple of weeks prior and walked out into the falling snow. As the snow fell, I said to Adi, “It feels like we are in a snow globe.”
Time stood still for a moment as I marveled at how nature has the ability to completely change one’s perspective in a moment’s time. There is something magical about snow falling and it becomes exponentially more magical when it happens on a Sunday. With nowhere to be and nothing to necessarily do there was a sense we had a “free pass” for the day. It felt like a snow day off of school and I became hyper-conscious of enjoying each moment of the day.
Adi and I walked through the yard (we are fortunate to have a very large outdoor space) as we surveyed pine trees dusted with snow. Over the holidays Adi said she would’ve loved to have had a flocked Christmas tree. Now she did. Although Christmas had passed the pine tree in our backyard was fulfilling the fantasy of the flocked tree. I thought to myself, how incredibly 2020 for our white Christmas to arrive two weeks after the holiday had passed. More than ever, I was being taught to surrender and enjoy exactly what was brought before me at the exact time it arrived.
Even later in the day, after Adi and I had long since returned inside, I found myself sitting on the couch and looking out the back windows of our house drinking in the majesty of the falling snow. It was such a simple pleasure, completely devoid of extravagance yet beyond fulfilling in the most serene way. I couldn’t help but notice the cardinals in the backyard darting through the falling snow as they made the way to the bird feeder. Squirrels hopped from limb to limb and with each step snow would cascade off of the limbs and fall to the ground. It was in this moment that I thought, these moments occur every day and yet I fail to notice the brilliance of their purity. It took snow for me to slow down enough to enjoy the majesty of the orchestration of a perfectly designed Universe.
In my world, everything that seemed so important only hours ago had taken a backseat to watching the snow fall. I felt young and innocent again if only for a moment. Nothing really seemed to matter all that much as I watched out backyard turn into a pure white slate. As the sun dipped below the horizon signaling the end of another day, I gave thanks for our snow day. Then, I gave thanks for every day because embedded in each day is a magic that only needs to be witnessed to be enjoyed. Before us, each day, is wonder and wonderment and we need only to train our eyes to seek the beauty that exists before us. When we do, every day becomes a snow day.
Stay blessed on your journey. Sat Nam!