I feel as though so much of what I have written here has been very high drama. Which is funny, considering I try very hard to live my life with as little drama involved as possible. Maybe I’ve just been fooling myself all of this time. And while I wouldn’t say my story is ‘normal’, it hasn’t all been a soap opera, either. I don’t know, maybe I just like telling the parts that lend themselves to great dramatic effect. But I want to start sharing parts that are a little less so…..
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When I was a little girl, I had this wonderful storybook. I don’t remember the name, but can still envision the front cover as though it was right here in front of me. The story was about a family of rabbits who become stuck in their house after a big snowstorm. They decide to travel out and explore, and in preparing to do so, strap snowshoes onto their feet. I don’t remember much else, just the snowshoes. And from that point on, I was fascinated by the things. I already had a deep love of all things winter, but the idea that you could walk on top of the snow just blew my mind. Every winter from there on out, I would try to make my own, usually by strapping badminton rackets to my snow boots. These ventures very rarely worked. And my brother would get annoyed that I broke yet another pair of the rackets….

I told myself repeatedly over the years that I would go snowshoeing. That I would finally get out there and do this thing that I had been dreaming of for years. Well, this afternoon, I actually did. My good friend Bethany agreed to come on this adventure with me, and after driving in circles for almost two hours, we had acquired the shoes, were parked at a state park, and were ready to go. And it was lovely! I can’t claim to have been the most graceful, but the idea of walking through the woods, up hills and then down, on snow that only animals had trekked over, created a completely joyous calm deep inside of me.

I hope to get out there some more, to explore the snowy wilderness. To float on the snow. To be that bunny rabbit, leaving home after the storm.