Every winter as a child I would pray for snow. Deep down I felt it was pointless as I would stare out the living room window at the cloudy sky, willing it to let loose those soft white flakes that would cover the imperfect landscape in a spotless shining blanket. Up to that point snow had not been something I was acquainted with, and staring out the window I would free my mind to wander the paths where snow lived eternally. I spent every winter thus wrapped up in my daydreams, far from earth and far from reality. When I entered into my teenage years snow and I were still strangers, and my childhood dream became of less and less importance. I became wrapped up in the thoughts and doings of a teenage girl, and needless to say fantasies of snow wonderland's were not something that took priority in my life. I thought I was so grown up! But now that I understand more fully what growing up means I wish I had not been in such a hurry to do so, I would gladly go back to those blissful years of my life where nothing was more important than my daydreams.
My sixteenth birthday was only a few months away, and I had been thinking more and more about my childhood and everything that I had left behind in growing up. I mused that growing up was a long endless path that you were obliged, or rather forced, to take. On this path many obstacles presented themselves, some were conquered easily, and some were harder to pass, and some were pleasant and you wanted to linger with them longer than you should, but whether you wished it or not you had to keep going, and all of these things were what matured you and made you the person you would be. It was an eternal journey, this thing called growing up, and as soon as you thought you had reached your goal, you realized you had so much more to learn.
It was late in the afternoon, the day was cold and gray, and I sat at that window the way I had been accustomed to do many years before. My tired head rested on my hand and I stared out the window, eyes fixed on the past. The moment I realized I was going to be sixteen I had slipped into a sort of melancholy. It was true and now there was no denying it, I was growing up! So occupied was I with my sad reflections that I did not hear my sister addressing me from across the room, she had to come and shake me out of my thoughts before I realized she wanted to speak with me. I stared up at her confused as she uttered one single word.
"Look!" She said, and I followed her finger with my eyes to the window I had been unconsciously gazing out of. A delighted gasp escaped my lips as I took in the strange sight. From the sky fell the softest of white powder, and covering the yard already was a thin blanket of the most brilliant and most pure of substances I could ever have imagined. Snow! I moved as if in a dream, and as I opened the front door I could feel my heart pounding in my throat. I stepped out onto the porch with shining eyes lifted to heaven, and I slowly raised my arms above my head, palms extended. That moment was better than I could have dreamed. With child-like joy I smiled up at the sky that had finally yielded to my prayers that had been so persistent. None of my greatest imaginings could have prepared me for the intense pleasure I felt when the snow gathered on my eyelashes and melted on the tip of my nose. And at that moment I realized how perfect God's timing was, and how carefully he was watching over me, and I felt he had not missed a single one of my silent prayers. It was true I was growing up, but my childhood was something to be taken with me along the way, to remember and cherish, and to share with others. Yes, it was unavoidable, but I realized then that that wasn't a bad thing, and there were many more memories for me to make, and while it wasn't going to be easy, God would be with me all the way, and he would help me along that path I called growing up.