Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

It snowed last night for the first time of the year in Carlisle long enough to make it through the day and stay--a solid two inches of white. This is certainly cause for celebration, which I assuredly take part in, though not as much as I would like to. See, its the last week of classes, which means finals week is right around the corner, and I'm in the midst of turning that corner as we speak. So I haven't had much time to sit, relax, and enjoy the new fallen snow. Although, I did get a chance to pause for just a moment and think about the gleaming pearls that hung from branch and building alike.

It got me thinking, these couple of weeks are very much like the first snow. With the last week of classes, there is so much excitement on campus. Everyone is itching to get home and sit close to their fireplaces, dozing drearily, and not doing any work at all. It's the promise of a long relaxing winter break that gets us students through the torture of the ending of the semester. But the more I get involved with these last two weeks. The closer paper due dates and finals get, the more stressed I get and the less I begin to think about winter break. Instead, I'm thinking about how I will get through class tomorrow without sleeping tonight. Or, there is no way I'm going to get enough research for this paper. Or, I have no clue what I learned in this class, how am I supposed to take a final in it. And so, the final weeks become more of what feels like perdition, than the good harbinger of sleeping until noon everyday. Because, hell, I've got 35 pages to write in one week. That's a lot of work; I'm not asking for much, but I do like to, you know, eat and sleep. Those things are nice, but work I have so work I must.

When the first snow falls every year, whether you're a child or an adult, I think one of the first things that comes to mind is a snow day. Time to sit by the fire, slowly melt into dreams, and do nothing all day. Snow becomes an omen, a symbol of what is next to come, much like my last weeks of school. Yet after this initial excitement wears off, snow is more of a job than a day off. There is salt to lay, wood to chop for the fire, driveways to shovel. And in the midst of all of this, your lips have gone blue, you can't feel your fingers and toes any more. You're pretty sure that your socks have disintegrated into more of a liquid than a solid. And somehow, even though its 10 degrees outside, all of your stuff is soaking wet inside and out. What comes next? Well only the back pain from shoveling, the shivering from cold, and the bruises from falling. Yeah, gotta love that snow.

But, in spite of all of this I do love snow; I do love school. As I have a brief moment before I head off to the next "driveway" to shovel, today's snow has me pause, even stop, and think of what is so beautiful about where I am. Looking at clean, white, unbroken snow is one of my favorite joys. Seeing the sun glisten off of the slightly brittle sheet of "snow ice," looking up at the crystal blue sky, and smelling snow. I love the way snow smells; its clean and new and invigorating. I need to enjoy the snow more; not enjoy the hopes of a snow day, but the actual snow, the beauty of the white picture laid out before me, before footprints have ruined it, before shovels have thrown it. I need to enjoy college for what it is, enjoy the classes and the last weeks for the relationships with friends, the late nights learning what I love in the library. Enjoy the snow, even as I shovel it away (so I can work away the cold and prevent the slips and falls). Because it is more than worth it for a little bit of a sore back, for a little bit of a fried brain. Its just another workout, getting stronger, getting smarter, preventing the slips and falls; all the while getting the blessed opportunity to work among a scene of great minds and the crystallized beauty of snow.