Let me paint a picture for you. I beautiful white picture that'll make even the ugliest of nature's creations seem flawless. I sit bundled up in my puffy, marshmellow north face jacket waiting for the hot chocolate sitting on my coffee table to cool down. The party shuffle on my iTunes appropriately plays Damien Rice's "Eskimo" (honestly) and the photos of the snow covered trees continue to import into my computer. I'm staring out my windows that overlook the backyard of my apartment building and the once sprawling tree now sits, for the most part, sporadically covered in yellowish leaves of which snow rests comfortably on top. The widget on my computer's dashboard says its 20 degrees in Brooklyn, 21 in New York City and displays a nice pile up of snow on top of the numbers for illustration.
Today is like no other day in my 22 years of existence, mainly because it is the first time in my life that I've ever stood in snow, touched snow or even saw snow. I think a part of me still doesn't believe that the white piles resting atop the roofs, covering the streets and frosting my fire escape is real. But here's what makes me the happiest of all... that even after 22 years of life, I can still find something so captivating. This only leads me to believe that I haven't become jaded by the world or life, that there are still a million of life's little nooks and crannies I've left to experience...it's almost child-like in that when we're 2 everything is so new. We're mystified by the possibilities and the world, for a single moment, is whatever you're standing, touching or seeing-- today it was my first snow day! When I think about it, it really is one of God's most unbelievable gifts-- and I've never been religious, but how could you not look out your window and see you yard look like a bed of cotton balls or the top of a delicious vanilla-frosted cake. Your street looks like that of a postcard and even your neighbor, who you're hardly even acquainted with, seems that much more familiar. Why can't I think of rainy and sunny days the same?
The weather reports had been talking about the possibility of snow today for the past couple of days. There was little hope for it on my part, knowing that my time would come soon enough. I went to bed half expecting to wake up to see snow, but thankfully a co-worker texted me at 8 a.m. with "You gotta love this..." and I knew immediately without even drawing my shades that there was snow outside! There was no processing time for me. I jumped out of bed, pulled the curtains aside and if I remember my reaction correctly I somehow muttered "ohh myGodd (pause- cue high pitch voice) its snowing!" it was kind of a slurring of the words mainly because the abrupt jump out of bed left me a little off for a minute. After gaining composure, I wasn't sure what to do next. Did I go outside? Was it ok to go outside? Was it like rain, where I'd rather be in bed sleeping? I grabbed my camera and opened my window and started snapping pictures, but I knew that I wouldn't want to remember my first experience with snow from atop 3 stories from a window, so I ran to my fire escape and snapped some more. Until I finally said screw it, slipped on my birkenstocks (I probably would have grabbed the flipflops), a hat and rushed outside where I was one of the few people on the street. The timing was just right! The snow on my front step and yard were untouched. Still neatly and perfectly white making what was once a gravel pit look like a picturesque pile of white, sugar coated cubes. I realized that I was by no means dressed for the weather, apart from my jacket which to my surprise even wearing just a t-shirt underneath was incredibly warm, but the birks and sweat pants were no match for the wet, slippery snow.
I live two blocks from Prospect Park, so I'd been told that the most beautiful part of snow is really early in the morning when it was untouched by the tread marks of people and cars, which even at a 8 A.M. there was some activity and the snow that once painted the streets white was a mucky brown.
I cautiously walked down the street as soon as I realized that my shoes provided no traction or grip in the slushy-like snow... this is after almost busting my ass 2 or 3 times walking on a flat surface. Imagine my cautionary steps on the slopes of the sidewalks as I approached the street! Once in the park, everything around me looked unreal. It was perfect. Just as I had seen in movies and imagined in my head. The trees hardly bared leaves and those that did resembled christmas trees or flaunted their red/orange leaves. Abandoned logs were deceptively nestled in the snow. I say deceptively because as I approached one and took my first step toward it...my foot sank into the snow, filling my shoes with the icy snow. There was no back to my shoes, so my heels were numb and my hands felt like a million tiny needles were prickling me, but I couldn't stop taking pictures and I was having a ball with it. There was nothing that was going to ruin this for me!
I stopped a lady walking her dog and explained to her my circumstance. She graciously snapped a photo of me and continued on her way. I stood there with what I think were snow flakes falling for minutes! It felt like rain on my face. I touched the snow and it felt like a finely ground slushy, but much colder than I would have expected.
So I sit now, contently on my couch, blogging about my first exposure to snow and I have to say that it is better than I could have imagined. Again, it's so awesome to me that I can be so WoWed by something like this and there's no doubt that everything looks that much more beautiful frosted in snow. Now, I just can't wait for the snow to be fluffy enough to build a snow man, roll around in and of course go sledding in Ft. Greene Park!! Call me a little kid, but how could you not think this is exciting!?
I'm looking back at the pictures I took this morning and I still can't believe that, that's me standing in the white snow! Oh man I love New York! It just started to snow-- as in actual flakes falling from the sky! that's even more beautiful than seeing already on the ground!
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