Opinion
Winter’s approach brings quiet warmth
October 30, 2008
Today I had to scrape the frost off of my windows to go to the bank. An insignificant gesture to some, perhaps, but to me it is always symbolic. It signals the start of that quick decent into winter, to remain frozen there as it hoards more months of the year than is fair.
I will soon break out my paintbrushes, oils and watercolors, and desperately attempt to keep some color in my life. I will gather pastels and crayons in bulk until they tumble, little fingers of blue, orange, red, green and stunted nub of black over the paper, tinting the snow. I will pledge, yet again, not to take summer for granted; to savor each sunlit moment, each picnic, each open-windowed, late night conversation. Summer was, again, a paradox this year. Each day dragged on like sandpaper across wood, but the whole of it seems like such a blur now.
I have been feeling a little soggy lately, but feel myself warming and perhaps making steps to embrace the next thing, as we all should do. With winter, distractions minimize and tiny buds of extra time blossom in spite of the crippling cold; time in which to study, to read, to drink cocoa and watch movies under blankets, to breathe. It is imperative to take steps to make the most of spare time, in whatever way is most needed.
I was excited for autumn and very sad to see summer fade. I will miss sunshine and still moments and softness but I found myself excited for breezes and sweaters and that crispness in the air that nothing can produce quite as well as a fall morning. But it is all fading yet again, so perhaps I can muster a meager acceptance for the cold of the upcoming months. Hopefully this year the frost won’t creep quite so fiercely on my soul.
Katie Heimer is double majoring in international studies and history, with a German minor.