Winter time comes briefly in South Carolina and it’s one of my favorite seasons. Any chance I get to see the snow, I jump at like a little girl ready for her first seasonal sledding session.
I spent my youth in the snow belt of the north east - a part known for it’s lake effect snows. It wasn’t uncommon for us to get FEET of snow at a time. We were often buried in white through January and into March. For some reason, it always felt really magical to me. The hush of the world under a gentle snow is something you can’t explain to someone who hasn’t experienced it before. There is a hush…a stillness.
While spring symbolizes fresh starts, there is something about a blanket of fresh snow that makes me feel like big things are coming. Maybe it’s the blank canvas it seems to look like as the world is blanketed with a crisp restart. To me, this is what feels like the beginnings of a fresh start, but with the promise of a little rest, comfort and calm before the party happens.
While we walked through the woods the other day in the snowfall, stepping over brambles of future juicy and tart blackberries, sweet and succulent blueberry bushes slumbering under the snow, and seedlings of little trees full of hope, I was comforted as much as what was coming as I was by what was here…what was right now.
If winter teaches me anything each year, it’s that every phase of life - every chapter we are in - is a lovely and precious experience. The chilly slumber of winter that leads to the blossoming of spring. The crisp spring mornings that lead to the prickly heat of summertimes that smell like sunscreen and salt water. They are all significant. We need each thing to get to the next.
The importance of being present and where I am at the moment means more to me now than ever before. It’s precious time. Sacred moments. Even those bad parts - whatever they may be to you - have their place…
So this winter, you can find me chasing this chill before I start exploring for those summer waterfalls and seashells. Because each season and chapter needs it’s own celebration.
