Snow man

So yesterday I stepped outside and I was instantly transported back to Indiana.

I remember when just the sight of snow would send me running to the hall closet to get my boots on and then I'd be off outside to build a snowman or a snow fort, or get in a snow ball fight with one of my friends. This year is the first year in a very long time that I haven't built a snow man. For some reason that hits me in a more serious place in my heart. It's not just three snow balls stacked up together. It's not just a sculpture in the snow. It's the symbolism of youth and innocence that a snow man brings to an adult. It's a special kind of character that takes the time out of their adult life to stop and build something so carefree and yet still complex as a snowman. Getting the size just right. Making sure it's even on all sides, finding the perfect sticks, finding the perfect tools for the eyes. As a youth you embrace the work that it entails with the promise of a beautiful outcome in mind, but as an adult, you've seen snowmen before, you've built them before, it's quite easy to say "What's the point?" But the adults that carry with them the memories of childhood and the respect for the architecture of a well-built snowman, my hat's off to you. I have a new understanding and a new gratitude for you and the piece of childhood that you embrace.