Wednesday, November 24

Wintertime is upon us!

 I've heard a lot of people grumbling (myself included) about the quick change in the season. Snow has made its swift descent, and the consensus is that along with the snow, the season of miserable isolation has descended also. 

"How does it sneak up on us every year?" we ask. "Why did we think we could dodge it?" 

An interesting thing happened to me at the Signatures Craft show last weekend. It happened when one of my best friends came to visit. Her young son is quite the artist, and has always had a keen interest in what I do. A couple of years ago, he even set up at the end of my table one craft show with his "art box" creations. She told me that he had really wanted to come to Signatures but that he sent his regrets. I tried, for a moment, to imagine what it could have been that kept him from coming.

"You see," she explained, "he and his brother had been waiting and waiting for the snow."

He'd been waiting for both this Craft Sale and the change of weather, and when both came at once, he took his first chance to embrace the latter.

I've can't get this thought out of my head. The thought of someone changing their plans because they want to play in the snow is a foreign one for most of us adults. With everyone worried about the cold, getting stuck, and all the shoveling that awaits us, we forget that snow isn't really a curse. It's a thing of wonder, of fun, of beauty! As much as it is an inevitability, it's still a source of eager anticipation for some.

It can still be miraculous for those who think differently - those whose primary worries aren't the tasks ahead, but the joyful possibilities that await! Winter shouldn't be something that we try to elude, but something that we should embrace with open arms! Why do we always forget about the crunchy ice, or the hoarfrost, or that we will once again be able to watch our breath dance away into the clear blue sky?

This is a season of merriment. Enjoy, my fellow Winnipeggers. Enjoy.

-Karen 

The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.

-Albert Einstein