We almost didn’t post this one. The adventure happened weeks ago on a rare, surprise snow day, and we stayed home to enjoy it. Home, yes, but we left our house in the drifts and trudged toward the hill. Our plastic sled-somethings and unbending wooden skim board tucked optimistically under our arms, we set out on foot, smashing snowflakes into tread.
Stopping by Pristine Snow on Vacant Lawns
so much depends
upon
frenzied feet arriving
first
a pathless white
territory
theirs today gone
tomorrow
***
Mere blocks away and knowing the gate would be locked; we shimmied through it anyway. I got stuck beneath the chained padlock. Almost…sorta…not really. I could almost hear someone’s dad bellow at me. “GO. AROUND.” Not today.
“I think I have too many layers,” I said.
Chris surely thought I would not make it. I heard it in his voice. Oh, but I’ve made it before and I’ll make it again. (It’s taken me decades to realize, but being fun-size has its benefits).
The hillside drop-in a football field away, we squinted and ran, knees high, breaking a sweat towards inevitable fun. This, my friends, is February in Western, WA. We don’t break sweats. We don’t get sun. We don’t get snow.
Today, we had it all.
The White Snowball
The field is lovely, deep and white,
But we have hours to go before night,
And children to raise just right,
And children to raise just right.
***
Parenting is hard. Sometimes it’s easier to just go outside and play. Your thoughts? Write them below!
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