Never Gets Old

Dear Friends-

The big news around here is spelled S-N-O-W. Around a foot of powder dumped down on the Hudson Valley Wednesday, and it shut the whole area down for the day. I have always loved large-scale weather events that remind us to have perspective, and this one was no different. Long-range travel by road was shut down to a minimum, and community streets were dotted with children and adults whisk-whisking around in snow pants, tugging sleds behind them as they made their way to meet with friends on backyard hills or at the neighborhood park. The focus of life returned to the home, the neighborhood, and the community for a day until the roads were cleared for travel further afield. I like to imagine that chicken noodle soup and hot chocolate lined little tummies all day, and that indoor time was spent snuggled under blankets or sneaking fingers of cookie batter. There is a certain comfort when mother nature tells us to pause our life for a day, and I hope it was an enjoyable time for all.

Our backyard hill is open for sledding today, and the students have spent the afternoon together clambering aboard their downhill crafts bobbing, crashing, giggling, and raising their arms triumphantly when they go further than any tracks have led before. The simple pleasure of shooting down a hill surrounded by good friends seems to never get old, and I see smiles on the faces of our students that are exactly the same as the smiles I see in the black and white photos we have of kids sledding down that same hill in decades past.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Be well,

Ben