Charmed
Life
Gretheline
Genciana Ramos-Bolandrina
Snow
"Like snowflakes, the human
pattern is never cast twice. We are uncommonly and marvelously intricate
in thought and action, our problems are most complex and, too often, silently
borne."
Lilly Amber, our third child woke me up excitedly
last Friday and exclaimed "Wake up, Mama, look out the window. It's snowing
just for my birthday!" She just turned three and her innocence is so endearing.
She loves to play in the snow with her two older siblings Ate Jessica and
Kuya Gino; bunso Max is just too young to tag along. To Lilly, snow's beauty
lies in the fact that she can roll in it, sled on it and make snowmen. We
got a box of snowman paraphernalia, all complete with a wooden carrot nose
and buttons, just add snow the label says.
My husband Joe used to plow snow and enjoyed
every waking moment of it. He used to get up, all excited at 3 AM ready to
head out and be the lesser known super-hero, Mr Plow. I, on the other hand,
am not a big snow fan. Not a big fan of the New England cold period. However,
snow does amaze me. It was Thanksgiving 1989 when I experienced my first
snow fall, and I was already 22 years old! I first drove in snow in January
1991 and crashed into a log fence in one of the mansions at Wellesley. Minor
car damage, thank heavens. But it made me realize the power of snow (and
ice!).
Think snow is just water? Snow is crystals
of frozen water. Snowflakes are a conglomeration of many snow crystals. Most
snowflakes are less than one-half inch across. Seems that pure snow is made
up of snowflakes ranging from 2 to 200 separate snow crystals. They have
formed around tiny bits of dirt that have been carried up into the atmosphere
by the wind. So, snow crystals are really soil particles that have been dressed
up in ice. The shapes of snow crystals depend upon the temperature at which
they were formed. The simplest shape is a long needle shaped like a spike,
then all other shapes have six sides. One shaped like a six-sided prism,
the other a thin, flat six-sided plate. And lastly there are intricate,
six-pointed stars.
As a child, growing up in the Philippines,
my thoughts of snow were based on the beautiful postcards and calendars we
received. At that time, no one told me stories of shoveling the walk or driveway,
scraping car windshields and much less, driving in snow. What a challenge
for me. To this day, Joe makes sure I have the studded tires and winter
weather-proofed vehicle. And the cold, my sister Con observed and commented
how it is warmer in the fridge at night, than it is outside the house in
this part of the globe :) Such is life, there's all the blessings, privileges
and beauty and then there's the responsibilities that come along with it.
Lilly's belief that it snowed just for her birthday, now, there's magic.
Who would want to spoil that? As the song goes, "let it snow, let it snow,
let it snow" but make sure to bundle up and enjoy a nice snowball fight with
your kids or adults who are kids at heart, with no worries in the world!
Maybe chant away . . . "I am a thousand winds that blow. I am the diamond
glint on snow. I am the sunlight on ripened grain. I am the gentle autumn
rain."
Feel free to e-mail me reactions, comments
and or suggestions for ideas to ponder. Contact me at
Gretheline@aol.com or through Carousel
Productions. |
