Frosting

I stared out the kitchen window into the early morning darkness, trying to get a sense of the outdoors temperature while Drew was rousing from a sound sleep. Yes, the car windows are frozen white with a hard frost. He will need at least a hoodie. Thank goodness the school requires long pants now, or I am sure he would try to get away with shorts year round!

Later, when I took Sugar for a walk, donned in black corduroy pants and lined trench coat, the world lay silent and chill. House roofs, grass, bushes, windows - all wore a white covering of frost. My breath hung in front of my face in little cloud puffs. Sugar tiptoed gingerly on the frosted grass, not sure if she could manage her usual morning excretions.

What a contrast to the warm sun of just a few days ago. Now I must sit in the car and wait until the windows clear and I can see to drive. I trace patterns in the lacy frost on the windshield. When the sun hits, diamonds practically leap off the glass, bursting to be seen and admired. I smile as fingerprints and nose prints where boys have left their invisible mark inside my car suddenly become visible.

I wind the windows down and laugh as the frost peels off, tumbling in little sheets to the edge of the glass. The heater is now making little dents in the thick frost and I ruthlessly turn the wipers loose to wreck damage on the whiteness. Soon enough, I will be chipping snow and ice from the windshield. I am happy to play with the frost for awhile despite the shivers that lock my shoulders to my ears.

I see the blanket of whiteness shrouding the roofs and grass through little peep holes in the car windows. I wonder if that is how babies see the world - a tiny bit at a time as the frosting of womb melts away. Perhaps. Perhaps it is also the way those passing from this world to the next see heaven! Someday I will find out, but not today. Today I must hurry or I will be late for work!

Begone, cold frost. Melt away. Let the warmth of summer stay another day.