Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Every morning I pour my coffee and then I look out the window. I don't know what I'm looking for.

Today there are tiny snow flurries floating in the air. For those of us not used to snow, we picture it falling down and sticking to the ground. But this snow is floating in every direction. Some of it is falling. Some of it is rising. Some of it is drifting sideways. All of the snow is moving slowly and gently through the air. The snow isn't sticking to the ground but is drifting around like grains of sand across a Las Vegas parking lot. You can tell that it is truly cold outside just by watching the drifting snow.

The walk to the train station takes seven minutes. I bundle myself up and walk toward the station. For the first time in many years I can feel cold air on my cheeks. The gently blowing snow melts on them and makes them feel even colder, but the rest of me is well-dressed and warm.

As the electric train rolls quietly toward my stop, I watch the world go by. Everything is dusted in a thin blanket of white that stretches from the tracks all the way to the foothills, twenty miles to the west.

Tonight the low temperature is described by a word that only has one syllable, but today I feel alive for the first time in a very long time.