Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Snowy Smile


She trudged home, her backpack dangling precariously from one shoulder.  As she readjusted it for the millionth time she lectured herself, “What worked in Florida surely didn’t work here.”  She had thought that moving was the answer.  As her nose went numb, and she readjusted her backpack again she realized that she may have over romanticized the allure and beauty of living in a snowy state during the winter.  Clearly, walking at 12 degrees was not going to continue to work. She was wearing more clothes right now than she had once taken for a weeklong trip to the Keys.  Well, that did it, just recalling that trip made her more determined to keep to her plan.  Time and distance were supposed to heal all wounds.

Kelsey had to admit to herself, if no one else, that her life was a mess.  Yet as she reached her little house she had to smile.  Her dog had his nose pressed up against the window, making smudges in the fogged over glass as she walked up the driveway.  As she approached the door she could hear him talking to her, and as she opened the door he almost knocked her down with tail wagging enthusiasm to see her. “Woof to you too my Cooper, come on out and play.”  Laughing, she set down her backpack and followed him out into the yard.  As he ran around, still not entirely sure of his opinion of the wet, cold snow on his paws, she surveyed their new world. 

The house was small, yet it had all she and Cooper needed a little kitchen with a window where she would could look out into the yard filled with the greatest Christmas trees all green and proud, sprinkled with the latest of Mother Nature’s twinkling snow.  Beyond the kitchen there was a cozy living room, and then her bedroom.  Off the kitchen to the other side was another bedroom, or in her case, her home office as well as a full bathroom.  It was just the two of them and she didn’t need more.  No she shook her head, she had more before and it was too much, she didn’t need it all.  When she lost her home she thought the world had come to an end.  When she had lost him, she had indeed lost everything.

As Cooper bounded towards her through the snow she shook off her thoughts and smiled.  That is one thing that she did like about being here, in a small town in the dead of an icy cold winter, she had found her genuine smile.