Snow vs. Rain

It's Seattle. The Rain won.

Yes, we woke yesterday morning to a dusting of snow, enough to make everything around us white. Since I am the Saturday morning Catechist at our church, I put on hiking boots and ventured onto the street to see how difficult the commute would be. The street was fine. However, we bundled up for the trek in case the snow started up again. (Last winter we got caught in our car in the sudden, quick and thick snow fall. It took us 5 1/2 hours to make a 25 minute drive.) We decided this year to be prepared.

A mile from the house, the snow disappeared. Our neighborhood always seems to get hit with the snow more than others.

The morning's Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium sessions went well, both Level 1 and Level 2. The children were thoughtful, reflective, and engaged. And even though I had to go from the L1 and L2 rooms to do presentations and see how things were going, I had several moments of quiet reflection and observation, too.

Afterward, the snow started in earnest. Big, fat flakes. A woman got out of her car in front of us at a stoplight and danced as the snow fell around her. Then, she got in and rode away. Her glee permeating the cold. An older father with two small children on a bicycle crossed our path on their way to Volunteer Park. A woman in a long, plaid, wool coat walked her dog. A timeless snowglobe of images.

We attempted to attend a craft fair on the way home, but it hadn't really opened yet. Watching (briefly) the excited energy as they set up was as much holiday cheer as we needed, though. We continued our journey to home, warmth, food, and a snow ball fight. We probably got 2 inches accumulation. A couple of neighbor boys came over to play in our yard. They play too roughly for me, so I baked, made hot beverages for them, and prepared supper.

The snow stopped and started again as night fell. I was looking forward to going out again after the children were in for the night to enjoy the quiet, but it began raining. It rained hard all night and washed the snow away.

The snow, not to be outdone, started up again at daylight, working hard for its winter wonderland life. It began to accumulate. The water iced over on the streets. And then the rains came again, washing away the snow's headway, clearing streets for cars and trucks, returning kids to their video games and couches.

It's nice, the quiet of carless roads.

The sounds of my family chasing each other around with handfulls of snow, squealing, taunting, laughing is enough music to let me know I'm not alone.

Lying in bed and hearing the rain fall, knowing I would not get the opportunity to put snow down Frank's shirt or pop a snowball on Pooh's backside this morning, I wished I'd risked the painful, thoughtless hardballs of the neighbor boys last night, just to get a full winter's romp out of my system. My feet itch for the soft, schmoosh of fresh snow. Making rain angels just doesn't have the same effect.