We awoke this morning to snowflakes the size of pong-pong balls: a sure sign of their wetness, for those of you who never see snow. Flakes this big don't stick to the ground; they're too full of water. Because it's really too warm for it to be snowing at all. So I don't know why it did. It was just one of those things.
Still, it was wonderful to see them come down: admittedly, more wonderful than it would have been if I'd had to go out in it. But even that would have been wonderful, in its own way: the first snowfall of the year is just splendid -- I don't care who you are. Even if you've refused its excitement for years, it's still inside you somewhere.
A snowfall used to mean an orgy of play, when we were very young: snow forts and sleds, snowmen and snow angels and hot cocoa afterward. A day off from school, if God was very good. Enough of the magic of it clings to our biographies that it tempers the awful things a snowfall means to us now: a hellish commute to work, a childcare emergency, a backbreaking session with the snow shovel, a missing glove. An icy puddle into which you cannot help but step when you alight from a taxi. You know all these things await you when you see the first flakes, but someone in the office says, Hey, it's snowing! and everybody turns toward the window just to watch for a moment, before they begin to complain. Just for a moment, it is still so lovely.
A fine thing is a fine thing, even if it doesn't last forever -- nothing lasts forever. The world changes. We change. Times doesn't go backward. No, it does not.
But that doesn't mean we can't remember what it was like. Or that we can't smile at the memory, if only for a moment or two.
Just One of Those Things
- Cole Porter, 1935
It was just one of those things
Just one of those crazy flings
One of those bells that now and then rings
Just one of those things
It was just one of those nights
Just one of those fabulous flights
A trip to the moon on gossamer wings
Just one of those things
If we’d thought a bit, of the end of it
When we started painting the town
We’d have been aware that our love affair
Was too hot, not to cool down
So good-bye, dear, and amen
Here’s hoping we meet now and then
It was great fun
But it was just one of those things
If we’d thought a bit, of the end of it
When we started painting the town
We’d have been aware that our love affair
Was too hot, not to cool down
So good-bye, dear, and amen
Here’s hoping we meet now and then
It was great fun
But it was just one of those things
+
Advent Preaching Workshop with Barbara Crafton tomorrow, November 20th, at Zion, Dobbs Ferry. Sponsored by Region Two of the Diocese of New York. We'll work on sermon ideas and themes for the heavy preaching schedule of the coming season. Come, have lunch and then get a jump on the lectionary. For directions, http://www.dioceseny.org/index.cfm?Action=AboutUs.DirectionstoRegionTwoOffice.
Please call ahead if you're coming from another diocese, 914-693-3848.
+
St. Luke's Metuchen, Sat-Sun, November 24-25. Barbara Crafton will preach and celebrate at all services. 5:30 pm on Saturday, 8 and 10am on Sunday. St. Luke's is located at 17 Oak Avenue, Metuchen NJ 08840.
+
November 26-28, A retreat with Barbara Crafton at Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, NY. Visit http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/GuestHouse/SchedRetreats.htm for information and to make a reservation.
+
Thursday, November 29th 4-6 pm, A book signing with Barbara Crafton and illustrator Diane Robbins for Mary and Her Miracle at Catalyst Bookstore and Cafe, 815 Second Avenue in New York.
+
Saturday, December 1st, 9-1, Brotherhood of St Gregory Advent Retreat at St. John's, South Salem. This retreat is open to the public; for directions and further information call the church at 914-763-8273.
|
|
