3 Inches!

My shuttered eyes registered a subtle shift in the light spilling across my bed as I clung to sleep. I awoke in these infant hours, stretched and rolled over to gaze out the window. Moon glow was bathing everything outside my bedroom window in soft, white ether. I rose and walked to peer out the window, to gaze up at la Luna in appreciation of her offering. Not seeing her shining face in the usual position in the sky, I peered over the tops of hills, through barren tree branches, left and right, but she was elusive. I pattered up the stairs in hopes the shift in season had shifted her to a new position overhead. My foggy mind cleared, just as my bare feet hit the cold landing and there, framed by the slender portal of windows were snowflakes, drifting and dancing through illumination from the porch light.

In my slumber, the much anticipated snow had fallen and was still falling in fat, swollen flakes. At least an inch or more blankets the gentle slopes around the retreat house. The bird bath is wearing a milk mustache and I am completely, utterly enchanted!

I walk from window to window, taking in the vista of these familiar surroundings, now clothed in a pristine winter robe. A rabbit dashes across the back yard to the security of the underbrush. I want to rush out and inspect his footprints in the snow, run my finger into the hollow places he has pressed into this soft blanket of white, but I do not move to the door, for want to hold the moment sacred.

Virgin snow. My breath escapes me at the wonder of it all. A tear of gratitude eases from the corner of my eye and slides down my cheek in slow motion, a salty reminder that each day, each moment presents a chance to be awed, if only I will allow myself to be gently awakened by the subtle shift in light.