LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW...

A couple weekends ago, as many of you may remember, it was 70 degrees in NYC. I spent the weekend outside in Central Park and thought to myself, “I love this global warming thing.” Then it got cold (okay, not Midwest cold or even typical NY mid-January cold, but I needed a hat, scarf and gloves) and I was miserable. But then, this morning, it snowed a little and some of that snow actually stuck around for a couple hours. And I realized that as much as I love warm days, I also love snow and the winter.

I walked the dog to Biscuits and Bath to drop him off at doggie day care this morning. There is nothing unusual about this and Tiki and I do this walk daily. He doesn’t even sniff and explore on the walk anymore. He pees and poops in the same place daily and by this point, we see the same dogs doing the same morning walk that Tiki does not even try and play with them. Frankly, the walk had gotten a little boring for both of us.

But this morning things were different. Tiki walked outside and stopped in his tracks. He sniffed and pawed at the mysterious white substance on the ground. He licked it and some was stuck on his nose. He put a paw down and seemed surprised at the texture (or maybe temperature). I kicked some of the snow on the ground and Tiki chased the flakes. A child threw a snowball and Tiki lunged for it. The look on his face when the “ball” crumpled in his mouth was priceless. I would have done anything for a camera at that moment.

In response to the inevitable question: Yes. Tiki has seen snow before. We had a major snowfall last February and Tiki played and jumped in the snow banks. But he was only 4 months old and his time outside was limited. Plus, I think he had just forgotten how wonderful everything is when covered in snow – even if only a light dusting.

And that’s the thing. If, on some level, I did not love winter as much as summer, I would be living in Miami or LA. While I loved the warm days, I did not realize how much I missed winter until I got my first real reminder this morning of exactly what I was missing. I think Tiki was not the only one who had forgotten the wonders of winter’s first snowfall.