I feel like I just got home from a long day’s work.
The ten minute commute from my English lab office was pleasant.
The air was crisp, so much that every person I passed on the
sidewalk had cherry-colored cheeks and pink noses.
Most people kept to the tended path, where the snow had been
shoveled away. Every once in a while a maverick could be seen trudging
through the lawn areas, leaving footprints in the snowy path less traveled.

Now I’m home. Finished with my test. Finished with my presentation.
And I’m warming my hands with a cup in between - a cup of delicious
coco, that is.

Kids around here have been complaining like crazy about having to attend
class in these “blizzard conditions.” Yesterday six inches of white powder,
perfect for snowmen and angels, fell in the burg. You’ve heard a rain dance,
well from my window you could see starry-eyed students snow dancing till
the wee hours of the morning.

And every other school around here is cancelled. No classes. No tests.
No nothin. Tech is literally, the only functioning university. Some people
think we should get a break, even though we just got back from Thanksgiving
four days ago.

I don’t know what the big deal is. I prefer to traipse through the flakes on my
way to class. It’s so clean, and pure. It makes going to class seem like a dream.
It lessens the monotony. It makes me feel like I am home.

Because even thoughI have lived here in southern Virginia for nearly four years,
I can’t forget the 18 + I spent in Alaska. In the snow. Riding snowmachines.
Skating on ponds. Sledding down hills with the dog chasing, and mom watching
from the kitchen window.

I have 13 more days left in Blacksburg before I fly home for Christmas.
Yeah I have a huge paper, a project and three finals to complete in that time.
But with the snow on the ground, it doesn’t seem to matter. I’m gonna greet
the end of this semester, my second- to- last, with calmness and dignity.
I’ve got no reason to rant, cause there’s snow on the ground.
And for that, we are all the better.

Posted in VT