Winter Magic

Step outside and the frosty air grips your skin like a coat. You take a deep breath in surprise and the cold infiltrates your lungs and causes you to shiver. You decide to run back inside to grab another coat and hat before heading out the door.

The morning is quiet, the world still asleep. Frost covers the grass like icing on a cake. It glows gently in the yellow light of streetlamps and the wind brings a deeper chill to the air. Frost also layers your vehicle, so you stand tensed and shivering in the brisk morning as you scrape it from your windows. By the time you get going, it’s still dark out. A couple stars peer through the city lights from the sky overhead, but are quickly blotted out by a blanket of clouds. Traffic is light. Only a few venture out this early to get where they need to go. Every car glistens with silvery frost, a beauty easily missed in the dull cold of the morning.

You’re focused on your radio, the road, and your destination instead of the sights blurry past your windows. So, it surprises you when you finally notice the white specks falling on your windshield. At first, they were small like wisps playing outside your vehicle, but steadily, they grew larger; fluffy cotton balls falling from the sky. The way you zoom past them makes you feel like you’re zooming past shooting stars, but that feeling quickly disappears in your worry for how the roads might respond to the gentle kiss of snow.

You pull off the highway to head further to work. The lights of busy streets steadily shift to trees as you head further into stretches of forest trails and parks. You’ve only the light of your headlights to guide you through the dark, snowy morning, and your lead foot grows lighter with weariness of the ice. Be careful, and go slow, but don’t you miss the magic around you. Don’t forget the wisps that dance in the falling snow. Don’t turn your eyes from the leaves dressing up in powdered wigs, or the trees putting on elegant diamonds of frost. Your brisk morning gains the gentle hand of snow and its white glow silences the world, but you’re more focused on the radio. Each second, the snow covers the ground in a blanket that shines like gemstones in the light of your headlights. Did you see it?

You finally pull into work, hoping your wheels don’t spin on the slight hill that leads to the building. A small sigh of relief escapes you when you pull into your typical parking spot and you let yourself idle so you might enjoy its warmth just a little bit longer. When you look outside, you see the cold of the season. You wonder how much snow will fall and what inconveniences it’ll bring you. Will it pile so high that you won’t be able to make it home? How many would call you foolish if you risked the roads at the end of the day? You shiver in your multiple coats and a pout sinks your face. You look at the snow and see your complaints, but do you see how it layers on the roots beneath the tree? A few blades of grass poke out in front of it, giving the root eyes like its a lengthy, white gator wanting you to smile. Then, there’s the branches of the tree itself. The leaves bundle together under the snow and use its weight to shape a heart so you can see that you’re loved. Icicles are strung along the building, reflecting the lights around you like glitter wishing to spark joy.

You step out of your vehicle to brave the cold sprint to the building and the snow crunches beneath your feet. With your vehicle off, the radio is silenced, and the wintery world sings sweet music to you. Will you close your eyes and listen? Twinkling bits of ice chime along the ground, the leaves, and the grass. A breeze shivers through the air, the start of a soft whistle that dares not be too loud. Your every step guides the rhythm. The crunch of the snow like the beat of a cool drum. Do you slow down to let it linger? Or do you pick up the tempo so you can get inside?

Morning light turns the sky silver once you head inside. You can pause by a window to greet the sun or rush straight into your morning routine. The snow may fall all day so you get a chance to enjoy its beauty or it may simply stop falling, discouraged by your ignorance. I just hope you take the time to see its magic.