bon hiver

As much as I love winter with its clean air, quiet beauty, and wool-and-flannel-inducing wardrobe, moving in winter is no skip through the snow. Between college living situations, getting married, and moving across the country once or twice, I've moved in just about every weather scenario; and I can only remember one other time I moved in the winter. It was late January of 2004 and my dad helped me clear out my dorm room before I left for a semester in London. Over a foot of snow had fallen and I remember us tromping in and out, in and out, trailing snow as we went. But, that was one afternoon. We moved to Hamilton in roughly three trips, and we encountered some nasty lengths of blustery highway with a fully loaded trailer more than once.

Despite the messiness of moving in snow and wind and ice, the biggest concern for me has been our dog, Toby. We already knew his adjustment process was going to be slow, having uprooted him once already, but now that we're in an urban environment for the first time in our adult lives, it's taking him a little longer this time around. He's a 70-lb. black lab who lives, and I mean LIVES to run. He probably has roughly 2% body fat, and it's the dead of winter. Of course, it's only three days in, so he'll get there. And there's a leash-free park in the area that we'll have to try out soon. But it would have been easier in warmer weather; walks would be less hampered by the layers we humans have to wrap ourselves in. Daylight wouldn't drain away quite so quickly. We wouldn't worry about jagged ice under wet paws.

Today, while we were on our mid-day walk through our quiet alley and around the block, the chill wasn't quite as sharp and icicles were dribbling off every roof. While we were skirting puddles I realized, even though it's only mid-January, how wonderful it will be to watch spring unfurl through our neighborhood. I haven't seen it alive yet, so I have no idea what's coming- which trees will blossom, which yards will reveal daffodils and crocuses, where urban birds will weave their nests. Winter's beauty is cut short in this environment, where traffic noise comes and goes like tides and salt encrusts anything that moves. But the days are getting longer, minute by minute, and warmth is coming, bringing just a bit more freedom for us and for a very lively dog.