Crimsoned, and Decades Deep

[mavinga]

"Magical!" I thought at the first sight of snow. It was in Tennessee, of all places, a blizzard and I was 7. I remember its warmth to my eyes. Sparkling from the sun; I had never actually seen snow, let alone touched it. My closest association was to cotton-floored Christmas displays during the west African dry season's blistering hot Decembers.

Comments

[archas]

Beautiful.

It's funny, growing up in Michigan, with cold winters and lots of snow, one very quickly learns nearly the opposite lesson: The "burning" cold happens on days when it's too cold to snow. By mid-January, one learns to associate snow with "warmth," at least relatively. (30 degrees F vs. -5 is a huge difference, after all!)

Back to the point, though: A powerful meditation on the experience of a certain kind of beauty. Thank you.

[mavinga]

Thanks!

It's interesting how much of these sensations are relative. To someone who's never known anything below 55°F, 30°F is a shock. I did Live in Wisconsin later, so I know what you mean.

I remember loving the hot days in Africa and later hearing stories Europeans who were hospitalized because of the sun or heat. Back then, I couldn't understand how that was possible.

[anonymous]

In about 3 and a half months, Kristi will get to see snow for the very first time and I can't help but wonder if her experience will be similar to yours at 7, heh. I think the coldest she's ever experienced was at Haleakala's summit (Maui's main mountain) at 4AM...I think it dropped to a nice 45°F or so. She'll be in for a bit of a shock, I imagine.

When I visited 'Razzo that one spring break and we hit up Boston, I remember quite well looking up at the steadily-changing sign next to the theater flash "-12°F" and thinking "ya know, it's not that bad...I really like this." Mom says I get it from her, apparently she, too, wishes it snowed on Maui.

I'm looking forward to snow again, it's something that I sorely miss and cannot accurately replicate with the frost shavings from my freezer :-)

[mavinga]

It's going to be a rough experience unless she has that strange gene...

The 'I like snow' gene.

[anonymous]

Right now she has the "Snow looks so cool!" gene which can be quite mutually exclusive. We'll see how it goes, she just bought her jacket, gonna pick up some snow-oriented boots in the next month or so. The chill of Maui's winter is creeping in, nothing quite like the continental US (or elsewhere) but a small simulacrum of the real thing.