moonlight on the snow

      i have this friend.... and she loves winter. and i mean loves! she always talks about how beautiful it is & how she can't wait & how excited she is at the prospect of it. i know, it's crazy right?! but, when everyone else is bemoaning the snow & bluster & ice & cold.... she is giddy and perfectly happy in the purest way usually reserved for small children. her enthusiasm is catching and i have found within myself a deep, abiding love for the season that must have always been there just waiting to be recognized.
the thrill of that first whiff of snow on the cold air.
the excitement of the first flakes coming down.
the beauty of an unspoiled expanse of white.
the coziness of snow days, all tucked up nice and safe and warm in your own little home while the wind howls outside your door.
the extraordinarily brisk feeling of being really alive you get when you've been out in the cold and you come in, stomping the snow off your feet & sniffing against the tingle in your nose.
the comfort of warm food.
the magical wonderment of a still, moonlit winters night.
      and that's what hit me last night. as darkness fell, the moon rose & cast it's ethereal glow over the world.  the snow & ice glittered in the cold stillness of the night, the bare trees standing in silhouette against the orange glow in the sky where a small bank of clouds hovered just over the lights of our tiny town. the swatches of pale moonlight coming in at the windows and lighting the house in a way unusual and yet somehow familiar. a hidden world of wonder that most are unaware of... or asleep for. a world almost lost amidst modern conveniences and the strain of growing up.  and last night as i stood in my dark, warm house looking out at the beauty that lay before me i felt that childlike sense of wonder and delight.... it's something you realize you've lost somewhere along the way only when you see someone else with it. and i sent out a silent thank you to my friend.