It Is The First Snow Of The Year: I Guess It Happens Once A Year

Today while leaving my residence building it struck me that there was snow on the ground. I let out a breath it felt as if I had been holding for months. Even if I now look outside my window to see large patches of green only a little lined with white, snow has fallen and it reminded me that it is December at last.

We have entered the advent season. To be honest, I don't feel up for it. Generally the cycle of my attitudes on life dictates that I will soon find some true reason for hope and joy and therefore let go of the sadness and anxieties of the fall. But cold weather also means colds, exams and an itchy dryness in the air. I am tired. I see this same sentiment on the faces of people around me. Lately 'how are you' receives a much hollower answer than 'not too bad'.

So I drink Tazo tea and soothe my aching back with a heating bag. I work, tired and bored, on meaningless homework assignments and push away worries about tests and projects. I miss home. I miss the freezing winters in the school yard where we would all go out in esikmo levels of warm clothing to build anything and everything we could think of out of snow. I keep zoning out to think of skating on long canals in February, and of happier thoughts of my family around the (hopefully not artificial) Christmas tree.

How long a year it has been already. The end of high school, the beginning of something else entirely. And as my mommy said today "the end is in sight".

I suppose that is reason enough to hope,

Sam