aryanhwy | in which I am reminded that I am not a kid any more

It was raining when we headed out this morning, and not too much later it changed to snow; it has now been snowing hard for about 2.5 hours. Heading home, all I could think was "I cannot wait to get out of this, my hands are so cold, my feet are wet, isn't today a great day to spend the rest of the day instead out of that horrible nasty cold wet stuff? Make some hot chocolate, cuddle up with a blanket and a cat or two, perfect!

This is basically the first serious snow that Gwen has experienced on her own turf. It snowed moderately regularly in Heidelberg, but she was too young to really enjoy it. Last year, the prospect of snow at her cousins' was really hyped up to her, but when it DID snow, she was a bit nonplussed about it: I think she hadn't realized it would be so cold! But there I was watching her shout "snow! snow!" and stomp through all the piles that had already formed, picking up bits of it in her bare hands (it was raining when we left. I didn't have any gloves for her!), and as I was about to say aloud, "Wouldn't it be nice to get home and stay inside the rest of the day", I realized, NO. When you are four, what you want mom to say is "Wouldn't it be fun if when we got home we got you all bundled up with your winter coat and hat and scarf and mittens and an extra pair of pants (we don't own snow pants...) so you can play in the snow in the back garden, and afterwards have hot chocolate?"

So she's out there thrilled to bits, I'm indoors contemplating making a cup of tea before the hot chocolate, because my poor, poor hands are still stiff and working their way back to life after being out in this weather (and I had my gloves!), and I am given cause to pause and reflect on the fact that I am not a kid any more.