Virginia Is For Families

Well here we are the last Sunday before Christmas and there’s lots of snow outside. It is piled up on the limbs of the trees. And it’s covering the ground. It’s everywhere! And we are going to climb up and down the little hill that separates us from B’s parents so we can all watch the football game and have a little Christmas cheer. Together.

The car may not make it but we can walk or slide or fall down and get up.

We can chug along the roads that have been so recently scraped (thank you county workers!) and think about the cold and ice. We can wonder what happened to our Flexible Flyers and why don’t we sled anymore?

The world used to revolve around sledding on a day like this.

And fires built on the edge of a pond where skaters learned to walk on a couple of steel blades. It was not that long ago.

But we are older now and some of us do not even think about these things. I only remark upon it because there’s a snow covered hill in my immediate forecast. And then there will be a game on television where young men will run, jump and catch for several hours. They will risk serious injury as they attempt to win a football contest.

Thousands will cheer if they do something well. The noise will explode around their ears. And the adrenaline rush will make them feel like gods for a few minutes or an hour.

I can only try to imagine what that is like but I know what it is like. . .

Eventually. When they come back down to earth. When the cheering crowds are gone and they are alone with their thoughts, the bruises and the pain.

We all can join them here. We are all as one when it comes to our moments alone.

When another important contest begins.

When you can successfully and happily be alone you have won a battle with yourself. When you don’t need the affirmation and applause of a crowd you have won an important race.

But it would still be nice to go down the side of a hill on a fast sled before darkness falls. Wouldn’t it?