The White Stuff Humans Call Snow

A white strip of fur on his nose, a scar he got when he was very young. A daily reminder of how cruel people can be.

A whimpering beside my bed woke me up. 2:30 am, way too early to get up, but it seemed the dogs wanted to go outside. This time the weather forecast had been correct, the wind was hauling and it was bright outside in the middle of the night. The first snow this year came with a vengeance and covered the biggest part of the United States under a white blanket.

I made it down the stairs, not happy about the interruption of my sleep. I opened the sliding glass door and sat down on the chair close by. I didn’t even turn on the light. “Do your business” I murmured, and something like damn dogs might have crossed my mind.

I am not a pleasant person when I am rudely awoken during the night. I just made it through almost one year of interrupted sleep due to my husband’s crazy work hours. Still hoping to get my normal sleep rhythm back, I wanted to go back to sleep.

Grouchy as one can be, I sat on the stool, shivering, hoping the dogs would make it fast. My husband was sleeping upstairs, nothing can wake this man up, not even the loudest thunderstorm. The dogs seem to know that, they always approach me.

Our Vadar, now almost nine months old and around 65 lbs, stood in the middle of our backyard and looked around in disbelief. His head high, his mouth open, like he was smiling and then he started running, from one side of the yard to the other. He ran in circles, through the bushes, through the flowerbeds, along the fence line behind the garage.

Our puppy is fast, he run for about ten minutes, then he stopped, and tried to catch some of the wind -or the icy snow- with his mouth. By then his whole face was white with ice, he put his head in the snow, bit into it, and got a mouthful to taste.

He jumped like a kangaroo, full of joy and full of energy. He likes the white cold stuff we humans call snow.

I opened the door a crack and called him and he came running toward me but stopped. He looked at me, eyes sparking, a big smile on his dog face like he was saying “Mom, five more minutes, please,” and he took off sprinting again. Our older dog looked at him the same way I did. A bit with admiration, a bit concerned if he had gone mad.

Watching him enjoying the first snow of his life made me smile and it brought peace to me.

I spend thirty minutes in the middle of the night watching our puppy enjoy life to the fullest. Watching him play in the snow for the first time was very special it brought back memories. We played for hours outside when I was a child, and came back in soaking wet, with rosy cheeks.

I haven’t forgotten how it feels to be young. It wasn’t so long ago I felt the same way. What are 50 years?

When Vader finally came in, I got an old towel and dried his wet fur. He is a moaner and groaner, he lets us know when he is happy and he seems to be happy all the time now.

Our once-abandoned puppy is at a very happy place in his life, and I hope it will stay like this for a very long time. Now if he would just stop growing!

My helper, he sleeps a lot and finds the funniest pillows.

Many of us will have a white Christmas this year. It’s bitter cold outside. Stay warm!

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