The Alternative to Snow...

I never thought that I'd miss snow. I'm not a person particularly inclined to bask in the glow of snow. I can appreciate the flakes as they fall from the sky, and know that they are beautiful, but ultimately, I don't feel a particular kinship with this form of precipitation. It is cold.

I was in Greece over the weekend. And while Friday was a beautiful day, at least 20 degrees and sunny, Saturday it poured rain. There were puddles in the street, mingling with the excessive amounts of garbage left by striking garbage workers. It was while walking down the street, after getting completely soaked by an enormous splash from a car driving much too quickly, and after being forced to SHOUT over my shoulder to make Trevor hear me, that I realized one thing that snow has over rain: Rain makes everything louder. Snow makes everything beautifully muffled.

It was not until hearing news of the events that were/are taking place in Minnesota at the moment--southern Minnesota no less--that I realized how much I miss snow. There is a blizzard in Minnesota. Here, it has been raining for days. I have not seen a flake of snow for months, and none of it has stayed on the ground here.

I hated snow until I realized the alternative was rain. When I get home, the best welcome I could get (once my plane lands in the MSP airport) is a blizzard that follows us all the way back to Duluth, forces us to drive 20 mph the entire way home, and makes Dad squint into the darkness while getting all sweaty and angry.