That day I left work for half-hour to grab something to eat. One step outside the building and a gush of wind almost blew me away. I put my hands on my freezing ears almost reflexively. This is just the beginning of the long winter, and I'm falling in love with it.
The trees still have some yellow leaves left on them. When I look at the horizon, I see colours that I can't always describe in words. I think I see beige, golden, brown, yellow and perhaps, a light shade of green too. On some days, I feel like buying a long-distance bus ticket and leave home for a day-long road trip to another state. The reason? I can devour the beauty of the season in the streets, houses, trees and fields while on the move.
I usually leave home about ten-fifteen minutes before time so that I can stand at the bus stop and look at the balding trees, the grey-blue skies and the distant yellow fields, where children frolicked even a month ago.
I always take a window seat on the bus so that I can look outside and see how everything is changing. Frosty cars, people clad in layers, lawns covered in dead leaves, everything murmurs the beginning of a cold, cold season.
It has not snowed at the time of writing this piece. But that doesn't mean it's not cold enough. Every morning before leaving home, I check temperature online so that the sunshine does not deceive me. The sun deceived me on a regular basis when I first came to the USA. I would look outside the window and be awed by the bright sun. I would only know that the sun tricked me when the cold outside would send shivers to my bones. I am rarely fooled these days because I have learned that checking www.weather.com before stepping outside is the smartest thing to do in winter.
I know I will start complaining about the snow, the wind and the cold once the New Year comes. I will get bored and tired of the leafless trees, snow-covered fields and gloomy skies. But it is nature in the beginning of winter which seems so surreally beautiful that I can't help but scribble a few lines.
By Wara Karim
Date of publication: December 6, 2011
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