Today's Mental Oasis

Dust of Snow

The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.

- Robert Frost

Today, we're getting our first snow of the season. I am visualizing myself in this very moment, at home in my cushy chair; covered by warm blanket fresh out of the dryer; a mug full of hot egg nog healthily dosed with some of the most delicious dominican rum on earth. I've just dozed off with a book in my hand because Coltrane's "Stardust" is softly playing in the background. As the song ends, I become alert. I then put on my thickest cable-knit sweater, jeans, boots, coat, scarf and gloves and venture outside.

Once downstairs, I dust off the bench below my bedroom window and just sit there for a couple of minutes. I watch the powdery snow cover the table in front of me, and I write my name in it; the way I used to when I was 15. I'd curve the final "e" all the way up and over, then draw a smiley face inside of it. Undoubtedly silly, but I wrote my name that way for a solid year. I deliberately came outside without a hat, because I love when snow gets in my hair (plus my hats no longer fit). I try to see how many good things in my life I can list before the snow that touches my lips melts.

Sitting there I realize, even when things are bad, they're not that bad.

And since I couldn't sit on that bench in the snow physically, I think this is the next best thing.