You Could Just Stay Here, You Know

We are sitting on the couch, she and I, after spending the early morning hours reading books together and making cards for family members (check your mailboxes, grandparents :) ). We are watching the big fat snowflakes fall outside and the wind whip up the leaves left on the trees. Ryan is getting ready to make pancakes and bacon. She asks if the wind will knock me over out there, and I laugh and say, oh no, Mommy is stronger than the wind :)

And she looks back out the window and says, you could just stay here, you know.

And of course, she is right. Staying inside would be easiest, warmest, coziest. But the easiest course isn't always the one that should be taken, and I want her to know that. And so, of course, I do my exercises and stretches and get myself suited up to run and I head out the door. The wind whips at me and the snow stings my eyes, but once I get in the woods it is peaceful, just me and the sound of the wind and the snow falling. I take my time, happy to be out there, enjoying the subdued colors and the contrast of the snow on the rhododendron leaves. I run the single track out to Head of Tides as the snow starts to stick to the green moss, to the red maple leaves coating the trail, marking the ribbon of trail before me. I'm fairly bundled up but it begins to snow harder and gets a bit colder on the return trip, and as I run a stretch of the cart paths before the final mile, the greens are all white. I come home, my orange hat dressed in a layer of snow, my feet wet, a bit chilled yes, but with a smile on my face.

Head of Tides selfie

Snow and leaves

Snowy greens

After enjoying my bacon and pancakes (yum), we play for a while before Sam notices the snow is piling up outside and wants to go play. We all suit up, dragging our snow pants and boots out of the closets, and head out into the wind and snow. No one else is out. We make a snowman and walk along the fence, slipping and sliding in the wet snow. We spot the chickadees in the pines, and a Hairy Woodpecker calling as he flits from tree to tree. 

Snow lady and kitty cat

Snowy walk

We come inside and kick off our wet clothes and they cuddle up on the couch to watch football. And as I start to write up this post, she comes over and sits on my lap, wondering about all my typing and what I'm saying and how it works. She wants to make her own words. So, we sit together, she and I, as she types out some of the words she knows and we sound out others she wants to write.

samantha raymond triffitt

  i love you

the

and
mama
daddy

pippi

neenie
morgan
anne
sam
crayon

And after dinner and playtime with friends, she is exhausted and falls right to sleep, without a peep, without a movement. And I think, this was a pretty good first snow day.