Melanie+Ryan // engagement

Confession time – I have been a grumpy, growly person about all of this recent snowy weather.  Looking out the window at the piles of snow, my poor broken snow shovel, the mounds of clothing, hats, kits, ski pants, and snow shoes taking up too much room cluttering up my entry way.  The frigid temperatures have made me resist bundling my girls up to actually go outside to play, but today I realized I needed to “let it go” and “go and build a snowman” so we did it (grumbly at first), we went and built a snow man and climbed the ten to twelve foot drifts and then promptly slid down those drifts, and we enjoyed the beauty of the snow covered world, and the extra packiness of the snow that makes perfect snowmen and leaves you with those satisfyingly rosy cheeks and with clothes so sopping you can’t spend another minute outside, and leaves yours fingers with that just-can’t-wait-to-wrap-your-fingers-around-a-cup-of-hot-chocolate feeling.  It reminded me of a winter walk that we took with Anna (our then two year old) who was riding on her daddy’s shoulders, she threw off her mittens, spread her arms out with each finger spread as wide as she could, and she closed her eyes and smiled up at the sky….I asked what she was doing, and in a voice that seemed surprised that I didn’t know, she said “I just needed to feel the wind.”  Today was that kind of day for me…I needed to get out and feel the wind and see the ice and snow cracking off the trees and see buds on my rose bush despite it being almost immersed in icy snow and hear the persistent drips of water melt off my eaves, drumming to the quiet rhythm of the coming spring.