In High School we had a big snow event—big for Georgia at least. Now it was not even an inch of snow, less than we received these past few days, but enough to shut everything down. Several friends and I spent the night drinking Mountain Dew and playing video games. At some point in the wee hours of the morning we grew bored, and since boredom is a great catalyst for creativity and mischief, we found something to do.

By moonlight we left the house with a couple of small recycling bins and scooped up all the snow in my friends' yard. It took more than we thought it would, but eventually we had a solid brick of snow. With this proof of concept, our roving band went from yard to yard, scooping up all the snow we could. After a couple of hours, we had successfully built a six-feet tall and ten-feet wide wall of snow bricks. Somewhere there is a picture of us all proudly posing on top of our fortification, but I couldn't find it. We were pleased with our night of work and the adults in our lives may have been pleased also if my friend hadn't decided to build it in the driveway of his ex-girlfriend. Regardless of its reception, it stands as one of my favorite snow memories. Added to it are times sledding with my dad in whatever box or lid we had lying around the house, and after this week, with Basil, walking through pristine and silent snow-covered streets and yards, and watching the snow fall while safely drinking hot chocolate inside. What else can you do when it snows like this?
Mary Oliver has a poem ironically titled, "The Summer Day," but in it she looks at the extraordinary average day and the wonder it can bring. After basking in the sight of a grasshopper she says,
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
Snow days like this week can be dangerous if you don't have proper shelter or annoying as they interrupt our schedules and routines, but they are also opportunities to see the wonder of our lives, to make memories with the ones we love, and to be thankful for this unique and precious life we get to live. For God's goodness in these snow days and so much more, I say thanks be to God.