A walk in the woods.

It was cold, and snowy. Dislike for the inclement tendencies of winter made me want to refuse. I didn't.

I'm glad.

The ground was white. Soft.
Snow blanketed the brown earth and hushed all attempts at sound. Muffled.
No engines. Birds twitted.
Leaves moved slightly, and small clumps of snow fell from them, but no ear heard their landing. Soft.

We watched. And saw. Birds in flight. Clouds turning yellow in twilit preparation.

Moisture fell from spring's future blossoms. And children ran.

Our children.

They laughed, and smiled. They skidded, and jumped. Cheeks grew pink, eyes ran from the windswept chill. Still they skipped. Heavy boots unable to break through the muffled barrier. Such quiet.

We stopped. Absorbed. Noticed.
Details.

I thought. Full. Glad. Ours. This moment.

I thought. This, the first day of a new year.

A good start.

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul. "

-John Muir, Scottish naturalist and preservationist (1838-1914)