Mietzke's Holden Adventure

The snow is falling again but the sun is rising as if from beneath it and sending golden light to dance on the valley. This is the strangest spring I have ever seen with daily morning snow and light. Our power is getting lower and all of the extra wood is buried somewhere under three feet of snow. The paths down the hill are slick and mushy and a well placed foot is not always a guarantee for stability. The bears are waking up and at night, and whenever the fire alarm sounds the coyote’s sing. My eyes are aching for green grass and plants peeking out of the ground. New life, new life. When will it come?
The girls had a slumber party with two of the Jr. High girls. They dressed up and ate popped corn and played with their stuffed animals. It has been fun to listen to their games and hearing the older two using their imagination and letting go of their older selves for awhile. Jordyn and Nyrie are in Heaven and feel quite grown up with their guests. This morning they all went to breakfast with their capes and pajamas.
After this mornings snow the sun came out and it has been absolutely beautiful! The girls and I went down to the river after lunch and played with my new friend Rachel. I often forget how amazing the sound of the river is and that rivers tend to melt away any bad feeling that you could hold onto. The girls and I threw rocks and made rock castles and built dams and discovered all sorts of life in the river including a little fish. We jumped from rock to rock and came home with an assortment of rocks for our nature table. All in all it has been such a nice day. It was warm enough on the rocks to just be in a t-shirt. The water was cold but even it is warming. I loved listening to the girls play, Jordyn is such an explorer and Nyrie stood on the bank and sang with her stuffed sheep. Jordyn was up and down the river turning over rocks wanting to know everything about the terrain and what lives in the water. Nyrie spends most of her time in her inner story pretending that she is in a foreign magical land. I really enjoyed every moment of this afternoon, watching and listening and marveling at the beauty all around us. When we got back to the village the girls both started to find spots where the snow has melted away revealing small spaces for gardening.
While I was at the river I kept thinking about how often we would spend an afternoon down at Point Defiance, or at the water front with friends or just our family, taking in the season. I really love this new experience of the elements. The anticipation of spring can be felt throughout the whole village.