Snow Angels

It is snowing!!!  And I LOVE snow. 

I don't think I ever told this story, but almost two years ago we had what my mommy friends would recall as being the infamous "I-am-not-wasting-a-dollar-on-a-Dollar-Tree-home-pregnancy-test-when-I-AM-NOT-pregnant (and-it-is-not-to-be-mentioned-again)" incident.  It was February and we had a big snow.  I kept thinking that even though I didn't have any other symptoms I must be getting sick because I was DYING from feeling overheated.  In retrospect, it now appears as though the three little sniglets were doing their thing in there and warming me up.  We had been trying to have a baby for a little over a year at this point, and my doctor's reassurance that I was perfectly healthy and with time we 'were certain' to get pregnant didn't quell the anxiety raised by the 'specicalists' sighs that while all the tests said I was perfectly healthy the fact was I was 'old'; therefore, I "must" have rotten eggs.  My acupuncturist growled that this was pure 'hooey'. . .well she said 'hooey' in a Chinese medicine sort of way, but while I wasn't ready to give up yet that particular month saw me in a less than optimistic mind-frame.

So when my mommy friends sent messages and emails hinting, asking, and then demanding a test after I began feeling significantly unpleasant I curtly (with all the love in my heart) informed them that I was not nauseated, there was no way I was pregnant, and I was NOT, under any circumstances, wasting my dollar on a home pregnancy test that would sit on the edge of the bathroom sink mocking me.   Which brings me to the front door of our house on this snowy day two years ago.  I had opened the front door and after gazing longingly out at the lovely coldness I was pressing any parts of my exposed skin that I could press - without frightening passing motorists or neighbors - against the storm door glass to try to cool down.  After some time, and when I realized that this technique wasn't quite cutting it I had an amazing idea!  I decided to run down to the basement, dig out one of my ski-suits, and go outside for a bit.  That must have been a grumpy day in our house because I remember my husband peering at me with that look in his eyes and asking (which really wasn't a question) with that tone in his voice if I really thought it was such a good idea to go out in the cold when I didn't feel well.  I informed him that YES, I DID REALLY THINK IT WAS A GOOD IDEA.  So out I went with a long sleeved shirt under my ski suit, some warm wooly socks, my snow boots, mittens, and earmuffs. But definitely no coat.

I walked into the backyard and stood there in ecstasy. . .almost.  And then decided I really could just sit down in the snow and get a little cooler.  I plopped myself down onto the beautiful cold snow and sat there in ecstasy. . .almost.   After sitting for a while and contemplating the situation I decided I really could just lay down in the snow, and that might be even nicer.  And it was.

At some point during my cooling-ecstasy I decided to make a snow angel.  As I lay there flapping my arms and legs in the snow I enjoyed every cold wet moment and contentedly smiled that I was right.  It really was a good idea.  Later I traipsed back outside on a whim because I had an urge to take a photo of my snow angel. 

Ten months later we had the Oklahoma Christmas Blizzard of 2009 with over a foot of snow.  This was only the 13th time in recorded Oklahoma history when actual snow was on the ground, and the previous record for Christmas Eve snow was 2.5 inches in 1914.  And in that Christmas snow three little miracles lay bundled up in snow suits and wiggling their mittened hands making snow angels.  Later, after I poured over the scads of photos from that wonderful Christmas I sat staring at the pictures of them in the snow, and I realized -  this was their second snow angel.  Their first one was last February in the mounds of backyard snow with Mommy and her mittens.

Hmmm. . .where are those mittens.  Today looks like a good day to go outside for a bit. . .