Wait, where did Fall go??

I woke up to snow this morning. It's the first week of October.

Luckily, the snow hadn't reached the valley yet: it clung to the mountains like a creamy, thick white fog while it rained on us below. It only snowed briefly in the afternoon, and the ground was so wet that it didn't stick. When the clouds finally lifted from the mountains, the unmistakable trace they left behind looked like sifted powdered sugar across the whole mountain range.

Walking to work in the afternoon wasn't horribly cold, but I re-discovered that if my head is exposed (even if the rest of me is well-covered), I get a painful, painful ache at the base of my skull where it meets my neck, which doesn't go away until my ears are rewarmed. Walking home from work in the evening wasn't pure, frozen misery either; I anticipated that it'd be colder than earlier, so I layered an extra jacket on, wore a hat, and kept my gloveless hands in my pockets. With my head, core and feet snugly warm, I felt free to almost enjoy the brisker air on my face :)

Wearing a winter hat and feeling bundled up against the chill brought back memories of winters past. I remembered walking around Temple Square in Salt Lake City for the first time with my family last Christmas. I remembered when I was dating someone last year and was glad for the excuse to cuddle closer to him as we walked around in the cold. I remembered crazy nighttime adventures from freshman year. I remember being excited to finally arrive home from work and drink the rich hot chocolate I was so looking forward to. For some reason, the cold and snow make me think of Christmas. It's probably a good thing, because when I was just looking out at the weather this morning, I couldn't think of anything positive. But walking home tonight mostly turned my mind to the clear, simple, effervescent, sparkling joy that comes with the Christmas season. I smiled and reveled in the moment for a little while. Then I remembered that it's still October, and I don't even have a Halloween costume yet.

Hey, at least there was something good about the fact that it snowed this early in October... And, the colder weather means I get to be creative with scarves and cardigans, which I really enjoy :)