Jack-Rabbit Pelts

Sometimes I am in awe of the simplest things in life. Things you see often, yet for whatever reason, this time it seems special. It snowed today. No accumulation, and often if turned to rain as the temperature hovered right on the rain/snow line. But at one point the flakes were so large they looked liked big fluffy cotton balls falling from the sky. “Des peaux de lièvres” my dad would say when I was little. It means jack-rabbit pelts in French.

From the walls of glass at my office, I looked up at the light grey sky. You could see the flakes coming from a distance, slightly darker grey blotches floating and dancing down wildly and quickly, as if in a race to go melt on the cement hundreds of feet down. What struck me at first was the depth of it. Because they were so large you could see them much farther away than usual. This gave the sky way more depth than my brain was used to dealing with. And so I sat there and stared. My eyes focused on just the sky, and I soon lost the rest of the earth. There was just me and this large expanse of light grey, with millions of fluffy little cotton balls rushing at me. For a moment I imagined it wasn’t them that was moving, it was me. I was rushing towards them.

“Whatcha lookin at?”  It was Jeff, one of my team members. “Oh wow, look at that!….Cool”  Yup, that it was. Cool.  Not long after, the flakes turned to rain, the phone rang, the e-mail bleeped and the moment was lost.

Things like that can leave you in awe of the universe and its large and tiny little miracles that occur all the time, most without even being noticed by us, and certainly not appreciated and admired. I started wondering again where I fit into the picture. What is my role? Why am I here? And that made me smile.

You see, this weekend, Kelly and I were lying in bed snuggling and talking and procrastinating about getting out from under the warm duvet. At one point Kelly had her arm straight up in the air. Just straight out, for no apparent reason. So I asked, “Kelly?” “Yes?” she said softly, half asleep.  “umm…..why is your arm up in the air?”  There was a short pause. “Well, it has to be SOMEwhere.”  And I guess that is the answer isn’t it. At least it’s as good as any other.

So later today when I was at my doctors’ office getting my flu shot, the nurse was trying to make small talk. “Lousy weather eh?” she said.  “Nah, I kinda like it!” I said with a smile. I’m sure she thought I was nuts. But I wasn’t kidding. I was happy. I am here. The snowflakes are here. Kelly is here. And her arm, well it’s here too.