Snowy Evening

gouache sketch by Julia Lawing

A few weeks ago, we enjoyed a beautiful —albeit rare— snowy evening here in North Carolina.

No longer owning any “snow clothes,” we improvised with leggings and sweatpants, retrieving forgotten hats and mittens from the dark recesses of the coat closet. Sleds came down from the attic and we went for a spin on the snow covered street in the moonlight. We laughed at our West Highland terrier puppy Georgia as she delighted in her first encounter with the cold, white, wet stuff. Thawing out by the fire, we sipped cocoa and watched movies.

I often say some of my best memories of our daughters’ childhood involve reading classic literature and picture books together. This proved true again as images and words from The Snowy Day, Snowflake Bentley, and the winter scenes from the Narnia chronicles and Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series floated through my mind, like sweet old friends returning for a visit. 

It seemed exceedingly appropriate to scrawl a verse from Robert Frost’s Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening on our kitchen chalkboard. Although winter has never been my favorite season, moments like these warm my heart. There’s definitely something necessary about the clarity it brings.