Missing the Snow
Um, hey. It’s been a while. Wasn’t my intention to leave you all hanging for months and months.
As I sit here, it’s raining quite hard, only heightening the melancholy of my AWOL experience. Just kidding. If only the average life were that dramatic, I’d surely have written my first novel by now.
Mostly, I am sorry for myself, because I love writing this blog and hearing about those who read it. If you are reading this, then you are one of those people, so thank you. Thank you for helping me feel sorry for myself.
Anyway, this rain that is falling reminds me not only of my melancholy but also of the fact that it isn’t snow. It’s almost February. What the heck is going on? If this much precipitation had fallen five years ago in NYC, the city would be heading en masse to Central Park to build snowpeople and get in Elf-style snowball fights. Instead, we’re doing the bizarre dance of carrying an umbrella down a city street full of other umbrellas. Up, down, tilt to the side, why did I even carry this, now I’m all wet anyway.
If it were five years ago, my mom wouldn’t be bothering to pick out an outfit for work, because schools up in Westchester would certainly be closed tomorrow. Kids would be hugging trees and putting wooden spoons under their pillows and wearing their pajamas inside out tonight. Instead, we feel sequestered to our homes, staring longingly at a sky that could be sending flakes softly down upon us.
I love when it snows. Not only does the snow quiet everything, but a snow-grey sky tints the rest of the world like a black-and-white movie, like a little bit of color has been sapped from everything. This may sound terrible to you, but I think it’s magical. I love taking a walk when it’s snowing, seeing the flakes stick briefly to my hair before melting. It feels like nothing. Rain, however, seems to only exist these days to grow avocados and flood the subway.
When I wear my big snow boots, I feel as though I can kick down a door. I miss that. When I wear my rain boots, I squeak.
This weather makes me sad, because it has me wondering if we will ever have a truly snowy winter again. We all know the world is warming, the ice caps are melting, Miami is heading the way of Atlantis, etc. But most of us likely did not imagine it would be affecting our annual winter experience so immediately. Where has the snow gone? And will it ever come back?
In a decade, will snow days be a story we tell our kids as they listen in disbelief? “That’s right kids. We got so much snow we didn’t have to go to school! We could lie down in it and not feel the grass beneath!” Are these tales we will be telling? Are these tales some are already telling?
As it continues to rain for hours and hours today, I will keep wishing it were snow. Snow has a special smell. Snow keeps cars off the road and stores closed so we are forced to do nothing more than walk in it and enjoy. I am going to miss that very much. I already do.
So that’s all for today, folks. I promise you (but mostly myself) that I will jump back on this Liv in the City wagon, not only because I pay for this domain. (I know I’ve made that joke before, but it’s been long enough now, so give me a break.)
Enjoy the rain, if you can ignore what it could have been.