SNOW

I’m back in Clinton and it actually snowed. Real, cold, wet, glorious stuff fell from the sky. I haven’t witnessed snow for almost two years, and that’s too long. Whenever I mention this to people in California, they always say, “Well, Tahoe is only about two hours away. You could go there and get all the snow you want.” These people do not understand. I have no desire to visit snow. I want to live in snow. I don’t want it to be scheduled, to be on an itinerary. I want to watch a front approach on the news, or be startled by the blinding gleam of a night’s fall outside my window. I want to hear it crunch under foot as I walk down the road, and feel it on my face when I look up.

I feel much the same way about old friendships. Friends shouldn’t be itemized destinations on a well-planned vacation. They are parts in a life.