The beauty of snow

I am a native California girl, and snow just isn't in my list of things I like. In CA, especially in the valley, if you want snow, you drive to it. When you're tired of it, you drive home. Only the crazy people live in the hills where they have to live with it. ;)

This year is my fifth winter in Michigan. Every single year before this I have hated snow, with a passion. It's cold, it make driving difficult, it gets you wet. Yes, it's pretty to look at, but only if you are in a nice, warm house, watching it. Being out in it is just not fun. Even after I had my son, I still saw it only as an annoyance, and wished for spring to get here as soon as possible.

Then, oddly enough, something changed.

I was leaving work the other night, around 730 or so. The snow was falling, just the light, fluffy kind. I ignored it, as usual, until I got into my car. While sitting there, waiting for my car to warm up, I was looking out my window. For the first time in my life, I actually looked at the snow. Not just the big lumps of it, but the individual flakes. I don't think I've ever seen anything so perfectly beautiful. There, on my car window, were individual works of art. Now, I've seen decorations of snowflakes, but I've never realised they actually look like little pieces of lace. Each one different and beautiful. I think I sat there and just looked at them for about five minutes. I was oddly overcome by something so simple. Now, almost a week later, it still makes me feel different. It was like a little reminder from mother nature that there is still beauty in this world, if you just know where to look for it.

Granted, it's still cold, wet and difficult to drive in, but now I look at it differently. Had I still lived in California, I probably never would have noticed it. I guess there are good things about living where it snows after all.