I had a beautiful weekend with my family.  It snowed about 3 or 4 inches on Friday so I built a fire that evening and we have literally not left the house since.  I don’t really know what it is, but there’s something refreshing about an unexpected event that forces you to change your plans, or maybe just stop for more than a moment or two. I think that’s partly why I’ve never been a big “stresser” over delayed or cancelled flights – even when they’ve caused me to miss something important or maybe even have to cancel a show or something.  Now don’t get me wrong, there is usually disappointment and a maybe even sadness, depending on what I might be missing, but for the most part I really don’t lose much sleep over it – and actually, in a weird way, I’m realizing that I kind of enjoy it.  Maybe it’s because I know that it’s COMPLETELY out of my control and there is literally nothing I can do to change it, or maybe it’s because I really do subscribe to the whole “everything happens for a reason” cliché (funny how clichés become clichés…usually because they turn out to be true).  I think though that more than either of those things it’s because there’s this little tiny surprise window of freedom in moments like that.  All of the sudden, completely outside of yourself, you’re given back this window of time that was two seconds ago otherwise occupied.  A brand new, unexpected, guilt-free open window.  How many times can most of us say that these days – back in college, for sure, but now?  Everyone that I know has days filled with work or relationships or kids or errands or some combination of them all.  Even for me, a slacker musician who has never had a “real job” (never say that to a musician, by the way), pretty much every single day of my life is mapped out.  I’m a list-maker because I have what might be the worst memory on the planet earth (seriously) combined with a hefty dose of Adult ADD.  So my days are tasked out on my calendar down to the letter.  If it’s not on my calendar, it doesn’t happen – again, not because I don’t want it to, but because I forgot that it even existed.  But every now and then, we’re given that day back on the calendar, empty and open, to be filled with whatever we choose.

Now I realize that 4 inches of snow does not a “snow-in” make, but things here in Tennessee threaten to shut down at the mere mention of flurries, much less when anything actually sticks.  So this was a big deal and seriously EVERYTHING was cancelled.  And the truth is, it’s not like we had any grand plans otherwise for the weekend, but the gift was still given.  Or better yet, it FELT like a gift was given.  And so we crawled through our open window and we did what we had not planned to do, which as it turns out, was not much at all.  We kept a fire burning and showed Smith how beautiful snow is.  Miller slept and ate and poo’d (big shocker), and Roshare made a big batch of her Mom’s vegetable soup that is quickly becoming our cold weather tradition.  We woke up each morning and immediately looked out the window to gauge the accumulation like kids at Christmas.  I worked on (finally) finishing some painting around the house and we watched almost the entire 5th season DVD of Lost (literally, almost the entire thing) to gear up for tomorrow night’s big final season premier.  All that to say, nothing life-changing happened.  Probably would seem pretty boring from the outside looking in.  But the older I get, the more I like “boring,” and I did get a sweet reminder that whenever I happen to get “snowed in” or find myself with an unexpected open window of time, the people inside the walls of this house are exactly who I want to spend it with.

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