January 15, 2007

Ice Days or Rekindling a Little Lost Passion

Do you remember the days when you would stay up at night and anxiously await the weatherman's report. Those glorious days of childhood when your most sincere and heartfelt prayers were directed toward convincing God that snow would be the best possible thing for the world. You would go to bed hoping so hard that you wouldn't have to go to school in the morning.

Most of the time you woke up to the sound of your parents saying something like, "It didn't snow. Get up now, you have to go to school."

But occasionally, you heard the sweet sound of, "You can go back to sleep. It snowed last night and school was canceled this morning." I remember grabbing my blinds and looking outside to a blanket of white, completely and totally content with the world, loving the white beautiful luminous landscape.

I had forgotten the feeling of a snow day. Or at least the feeling of hoping for a snow day. It's been 7 years since my last one, and it certainly seems like time for another one. As I anxiously watched the weather reports tonight, the same hope and excitement budded within my mind: wouldn't it be great to have an ice day.

There's something exciting and enjoyable about unannounced days off. It's not that you hate what you do or are even looking to weasel your way out of work, but within most of us, a childlike passion for the joys of icy and snowy weather lives on. We see the beauty of the forms and are naturally excited; we're even excited by a slim and seemingly unrealistic hope.

It makes me consider the passion and excitement of children. It seems as though we grow older and forget how to enjoy the little things, like watching the weathercast in hopes of a little snow. We talk of the cold and the rain while worrying of driving through it, but secretly we enjoy it.

And so I hope I remember this childlike excitement, enjoying these little things that bring passion and joy in my life... And not just hoping for an ice day...