A Lesson Learned from Snow

I have spent most of my life hating snow.  Not just disliking it but downright despising the stuff.  I have always thought of snow as an inconvenience.  It slows things down and makes you have to watch your step.  There is nothing that I find more uncomfortable than being cold and wet. 

Thankfully (in my opinion), Strasbourg doesn't get much snow.  How much is much is all relative, of course.  The natives of Strasbourg feel that they get a lot of snow.  In comparing Strasbourg's snowfall total to Nice or Provence, there is definitely more here than in those places.  But when I compare the amount of snow here to southwestern Pennsylvania it isn't much at all.  It is February and signs of spring have already been appearing in Strasbourg.  There are even daffodils blooming and tulips coming out of the ground.  It hasn't snowed here for a couple of months.  I don't think that it had snowed at all in 2011.  Up until yesterday, that is. 

After waking yesterday morning, I happened to glance at the living room windows.  Through the corner of my eye I could see that something strange was going on with the quality of light coming through the curtains.  I went over to check it out and voila there was snow.  The trees and grass were covered but the sidewalks and roads seemed fine.

I probably wouldn't have chosen to go out in it but I had to take my daughter to the pediatrician.  It is a fairly long walk to the office.  After walking outside for five minutes I was starting to get discouraged.  The snow was falling at a fast pace.  I was starting to become cold and wet and the sidewalks were slippery in some places.  But I gave myself a pep talk reminding myself that I hadn't had to put up with much bad weather this winter.  Besides, the snow made this usually routine walk into a new adventure.  Everything looked different.  The Parc du Contades was a winter wonderland.  Statues were draped in white finery.  The snow had even given parked bicycles a new beauty.

On our way home from the doctor's office I dawdled.  The snow had stopped falling and the wind had died down.  The baby was bundled up and had fallen asleep in her stroller.  I took the opportunity to slowly walk home, taking a few side streets that I don't normally go on.  I noticed how the fresh snow seemed to soften the hard edges of the buildings and freshen the grayness of winter.  There was a hushed feeling to the city, like the snow was absorbing the sounds.  The walk home gave me a greater appreciation for the frozen precipitation.  Maybe snow isn't so bad when I am not scurrying around trying to do a million things at once.  Maybe it is an "inconvenience" for a reason.  It is possible that snow is a reminder to slow down, tread more carefully, and take time to really look at the surrounding beauty.