Snow!

Gooooood afternoon, lovely reader. As we speak, I am sitting in my dorm room trying to warm up because I just finished constructing one of the cutest little snowmen I think you will ever have the pleasure of seeing. I even went through the effort of inserting a picture of him! Now, tell me he isn't adorable.

Let me back track though. Last night I went to bed very excited at the prospect of our first real snow of the winter. I can't say I had any dreams about sugar plums or anything like that... but I promise I was happy when I woke up to a fresh white blanket of snow on the ground! For those of you unfamiliar with the landscape of UMass Amherst, I live up on a place called Orchard Hill. It's exactly what it sounds like. A big hill! And I mean BIG! And even though I live up here, I was not even slightly annoyed at the idea of going up and down all day for classes and to eat. I was way too thrilled for all this beautiful snow!

So I sat through my first two classes this morning feeling too excited to be sitting inside. I kept gazing out the windows, admiring the beautiful trees covered in the snow which just makes the world look even more lovely. After my Botany class, my friend Samantha and I went right to work finding materials to make our snowman. We decided to go small, and built a little guy right on a picnic table in the middle of our residential area. All four buildings can look down on him and smile, which hopefully everyone does!

What makes me happy is that I can see him from my dorm room window. I can look down at any moment and see people passing by, stopping, and admiring our hard work. No one has knocked him over yet. No one has done anything to disrespect him at all. It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside to know that even though we're adults and in college now, we can still experience the simple joys such as making a snow man with a friend. I hope I never outgrow that. I hope I never get so old that a snow ball fight seams immature, or hot chocolate and a Christmas movie seam boring, or snow is just the hassle we have to get through in order to accomplish our responsibilities. Sure, it is taking me a little longer to get where I need to be. But that doesn't mean I won't stop and take a little time to build a snow man, or throw a snow ball at a friend I'm walking to class with. This time of year is wonderful. The spirit and joy in the air. The way world looks different and calm. I don't care how busy your schedule is today, take a moment to enjoy nature's beauty. I think snow is just God's way of telling us we're moving too fast, and we need to slow down and notice everything around us. So that's what I plan on doing today.

Until next time
Respectfully,
me