~*~
"Tay, up for a study break?" Julia walked into the room and flopped into the bean bag chair in the middle of the room. Julia is a floormate of mine, and one of the first friends I made here at school.
I set the highlighter into the spine of my sociology book, then closed it, sighing. "I should really study, but I'm at the point where I just don't give a flying fig anymore."
"Exactly! Either you know it, or you don't," she said, rising to her feet. She took both my hands into hers and pulled me into a standing position. "So bundle up so we can take that break."
"Bundle up?" I was confused. Our study breaks consisted of a trip to the dining hall on the first floor of our dorm. It didn't constitute a reason to get all bundled up.
"Geez, Tay, you must have really had your nose buried in that book. It's been snowing for the past two hours." Julia gestured towards the window. "There's a white playground outside just waiting for us." She walked towards my closet and pulled out my coat. "Put this on," she instructed, tossing me the coat. "Don't forget hat and gloves, too. Do you have a scarf?"
"Um ... yeah, somewhere. I'm pretty sure Mom sent me one," I said, zipping up my coat. "Check the box on the bottom of the closet."
"Aha!" Julia turned around and held up a scarf with a matching ski hat. "Put these on, too," she said, tossing them my way. "Now let me get all bundled up, and I'll meet you in front of the dining hall in three minutes."
Approximately three minutes later, I waddled down to the dining hall. I use the word waddled because my roommate, Todd, came in and told me it was really cold out and to put on a few extra layers. The extra bulkiness was making it difficult to move without resembling a penguin.
I stood in front of the door for about two seconds before Julia came out carrying two trays. "Let's go!" she said, pointing one tray in the direction of the door.
"What are the trays for?" I asked. Growing up with six brothers and sisters, I've seen some interesting things done in the snow. However, they never included the use of trays.
She smiled. "In a pinch, they make great sleds."
We walked towards the outskirts of campus, where the area is a little hilly. Trying to sleigh ride on the tray was ... well ... interesting. I'm sure someone less than half my size would have no problem making it down the hill on the tray. Julia and I, on the other hand, well ... we definitely got a few laughs out of it. That's for sure.
"Maybe this would work better if I stood on the tray instead," I wondered aloud, making the trek back up the hill.
Julia burst out laughing. "I highly doubt it, but I'd like to see you try nevertheless."
I'm not quite sure why, but I decided to give it a go. I was less than successful, to say the least. I made a mental note to myself: surfing on water is NOT the same thing as attempting to do it on snow. After falling over for the fourth time I gave up. I sat up in the snow and looked at Julia. She was lying on her back, staring up into the night sky. There was a peaceful aura surrounding her. "Julia?" I whispered. It felt impossible to raise my voice; it would cut through the serene feeling like a razor sharp knife.
"Lay down and look up, Tay," she whispered to me, her eyes never leaving the velvet sky.
I did as she instructed. What happened next can only be described as the most incredible feeling I'd ever experienced to date. Snowflakes came down, swirling around in all sorts of random patterns. It was mesmerizing. I could have stayed there watching the snow all night, despite bitter cold and my runny nose.
"Amazing, isn't it?" she whispered, her breath leaving her lips in puffs of smoke and absorbing the flakes. "This is always what I've loved most about night snowfalls. I could stay here for hours."
"Me too. I mean, I've never really gave much thought to night snowfalls, but I could definitely stay here for hours."
Julia nodded her head in understanding. "They give us a list of all those stress relievers to help us make through finals week. But what could be more stress relieving than this?"
I licked my chapped lips before speaking. "Snowflakes are small, but lying here, watching this, I feel smaller. I mean, in the grand scheme of things, I'm no larger than one of these flakes. Think about it. The snow fell long before I was born, and it will continue to fall long after I'm gone." I continued to stare up into the sky, lost in my thoughts. Despite the thoughts fleeting in and out of my mind, my head felt the clearest its been since finals week started.
"Wow ... I didn't realize you were so philosophical, Tay." Julia rolled onto her side and wrote her name in the cold powder on the ground in front of her with her gloved finger.
I rolled onto my side and smiled. "Every now and then the mood strikes." A few moments of comfortable silence passed before I thought of a question to ask her. "So, what else do you love about the snow?"
She got a far away look in her eyes, as if she was suddenly a million miles away. Slowly, a grin spread across her face. "The sleigh rides. I had one of those old sleds ... you know the ones I'm talking about?"
"Yeah, the wooden ones with the metal blades, right?" One such sled occupied a small corner of the shed in my backyard in Tulsa. It started out as Ike's, and every Hanson since then has had a ride on that sled. Mom was now saving it for winter visits from her grandchildren.
"That's the one. Well, when the snow was really coming down and I knew there was no way I'd have school the next day, I'd have my dad pull me around the neighborhood before the plows came through. I'd sing Christmas carols at the top of my lungs, regardless if it was December or February." She giggled a little. "I would sing Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! over and over, as if it was some sort of spell and once cast I would have no school the next day."
I smiled. "That was never really an issue for me. Come Hell or high water, there was always school for me. One of the pitfalls of homeschooling." I wiped my runny nose on my glove. "For me, though, it was always snow forts. And of course," I said, slowly crawling into a squatting position while gathering some snow in my hands, "the sole purpose for building snow forts is so you can have a snowball fight!" With that, I jumped into a standing position, took aim, and fired a snowball at Julia.
"Hey!" she shouted, jumping up and gathering snow to throw at me. She chased me up the hill. "Get back here, you!" I slipped on my way up the hill, and she took advantage of the opportunity. Jumping onto my back, she knocked me down into the ground. Julia then proceed to cover my face in snow. "Say you're sorry," she instructed me.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" I said through laughter and mouthfuls of snow. "I'm sorry!"
"That's more like it!" she said. She stood up and held a hand out to me. "I'm starting to get cold. What do you say we head back?"
I took her hand and allowed her to pull me into a standing position. "Sounds good to me."
Julia picked up the trays and we headed back to the dorm. For no real apparent reason, I began to sing at the top of my lungs. "Oh, the weather outside is frightful ... But my dear, it's so delightful..."
Julia joined in, singing on the top of her lungs as well. "And since we've no place to go ... Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!"