*Know You What It Is to Be a Child?

“Know you what it is to be a child? It is to be something very different from the man of to-day. It is to have a spirit yet streaming from the waters of baptism; it is to believe in love, to believe in loveliness, to believe in belief; it is to be so little that the elves can reach to whisper in your ear; it is to turn pumpkins into coaches, and mice into horses, lowness into loftiness, and nothing into everything, for each child has its fairy godmother in its own soul.” by Francis Thompson

I wanted to capture the essence of this quote today as a light snow swirled outside our windowpanes. I pulled on my ski pants, a hat, warm socks and my snow boots. Before I put on my ski parka, I was sweating and wishing I weren't so hot. It brought back memories of pulling on those infernal rubber boots that had an elastic band clasp that pulled over a large plastic button. Those boots that I could never pull off without pulling off my inner shoe, too. I recalled snow days where it seemed it took hours for my brother and I to put on all of the clothes mom required. I called for Marley, and we set off for the back woods.

Our house sits on six acres of woods and open ground.  I love to walk along the path that leads to the creek.  In the spring, the aspen trees rustle with the slightest breeze.  But today, in the snow, there was only the muffled sound of my footsteps as I clomped along in the new dry snow that was dusting the old crusty snow from earlier in the week.  I love the silhouette of the greyish white winter branches against the sky.  Marley woofed at something unseen to me.  According the all of the tracks down below, we've had a lot of deer traffic.  I'm sure there are rabbits and occasionally turkey and squirrels. 

I lifted my face to the sky, letting snowflakes land on my cheeks and eyelashes.  I wanted to be present in this perfect winter moment.  I could hear the creek bubbling along under the frozen drifts of snow.  I peered through the willows to see the bare patches where the water had melted the snow.

Winter has not always been a season of pleasures for me.  I hated walking to class in the deep snows of Provo at Brigham Young University.  I hated the cancelled flights and the delayed travel plans coming and going during the holidays of those college times.  And then I discovered cross-country skiing after college.  I learned how to dress for the weather and discovered another universe dressed in white and surrounded by cold air and steamy breath.  I have learned to laugh at snowflakes with my children, to enjoy a good packing snow with youngsters at school.  I have enjoyed the challenges of downhill skiing during my mid-life.  Now that I'm 50, I am learning to enjoy all that life has to offer.  Every season, every time, every phase. 

Childhood is a good place to revisit.  We must get older...but we can choose whether we will get old.  I choose NOT.  I am loving this life and the variety each season offers me.