I woke up and looked out my window, expecting another normal Georgia morning for seven-year-old me, but instead saw something unfamiliar. I opened the door to find a white blanket covering the ground, expanding with a seeming endlessness. I stepped outside, hearing a crunch below me. I looked at the ground below and saw my footprint in the landscape of strange white stuff! I took another step *crunch* and another *crunch* until each step became quicker and more exciting than before. Suddenly I was running through the wintery quilt, collapsing on the ground in laughter.
As I laid there, looking up at the cloudy morning sky above, I felt the cold icy crystals surrounding my body in each direction. While it first surprised me, I began to feel comforted by its cold touch. Suddenly, I hear my mom call from the house behind me, “What are you doing in the snow with no coat?!”
Snow. This is snow? This cold winter wonderland of ice is what everyone had been talking about? I grudgingly trudged into the house, looking back with newfound appreciation before I went back to the familiar heat of the indoors. I see my bright red nose and messy hair in the mirror as my mom takes me into the kitchen. She sits me down at the kitchen table and hands me a cup of hot chocolate. I take a sip, savoring each drop. I look around my cozy home, the family pictures hanging on the wall, each accomplishment and picture hanging on the fridge and I realize, this is true warmth. The love of family is what gives you this heat, but you must venture out into the cold to learn something new, embracing the “crunches” of life.
Looking back on that day, I’ve realized there is always a time for the hot. Whether it’s the warmth of family and friends after a rough day or the heat of a fireplace after a cold journey, it’s always there for you when you need it. But the cold is truly when you experience new things. It’s only when you reach out into the cold that you discover a new passion or take an opportunity by storm.
I experienced cold as I sat behind the driver’s wheel for the first time and nervously put my foot on the gas pedal. I felt cold as I walked across the stage at my high school graduation, and then again when I graduated college. The cold followed me as I grew up, as I got married, had kids and saw my own childlike wonder for snow reflected in their eyes, and watched loved ones pass away too early. The cold never became easier, but as you grow through life, more things become warm, and there’s more and more new knowledge left for you to seek. While hot is warm and familiar, cold ultimately wins in the end as we grow through each new stage of life, the good and bad.
