SOLSC 1/31 - Snowy Silence

Join me this month as I write a slice of my life each day this March and join many others sharing slices at twowritingteachers.com.  My students will also be slicing daily and you can find links to their blogs HERE.  

You know when you're so tired that your eyes just feel heavy from eyebrows to cheeks?  That's what this whole week has felt like for me.  Life became crazy with just too many things, some more stressful than others, in all aspects of of my life.  And somehow, it is always possible to pile on another huge event or issue; so things have been piling up and I've been zooming around doing what NEEDS to be done, and somehow staying afloat.  I'm old enough to know, IT will calm down and I can make it through this busy tough time, and I'm very lucky to have great support from family and friends.  But in times like these, a break in the action, a heart-filling moment (or longer if possible) is always appreciated.  

Friday, I took my class on a snowshoeing trip into the mountains west of Denver.  To be entirely accurate, our environment education teacher Elizabeth led the trip while Kam, my co-teacher, and I were there to assist in all the parts the go along with taking a class of twenty-three middle schools students on an outing.  It was a wonderful day full of deep snow, laughter, a nice hike, a great lesson, six-foot snow pits, and a massive snow fight or "brawl" for those interested.  Like most days with my class, it was a Good Day, a Great Day even. 

But the best slice of my day, was while we were waddling along the path in our snowshoes.  Six inches of fluffy, sparkling flakes covered the six feet of snow already on the ground.  The lodgepole pine boughs were heavy with snow, sometimes two-feet deep on the strongest branches, while the last remnants of the morning storm drifted from the sky onto the line of students in front of me.  A forest, covered in deep snow, always seems to create a heavy silence, even as birds chirp, snow pants swish, and steamy breath chugs out from bodies climbing along a steepening path.  Ahead, a blustery gust of wind knocks snow from the trees and creates a swirling wall of white, whipping down on us.  An expectant hush grips the forest, even as the noise from the wind gust increases, before it reaches and soon slips past us.  The silence is never actually quiet in these woods on this snowy day.  But today I find some peace and some needed joy, as the flakes melt on my skin and fill my heart.

photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/amanda63/4276423269/">fleckchen</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/">cc</a>