As I sit back and tackle this post that has been weighing heavily on my heart for the past three months, it seemed like the perfect time to finally put my jumble of thoughts into print about a slow and steady change that I’ve been working to achieve as we all approach the long winter months in Michigan. Why? Because it’s officially the first snow fall of the year.
As many of you know, I was born and raised in Palm Springs, California. If you know anything about Palm Springs, you know that it’s quite the opposite from Michigan, climate-wise (it’s literally a desert.) My mom moved me to the Port Huron area when I was in 5th grade, and it was actually the first time I had ever experienced any sort of season change. I vividly remember seeing it snow for the very first time, and my teacher at the time paused our learning for us to go outside so I could touch it myself, in person. I had tears in my eyes, and it was all so new and exciting. Flash forward a few years, and the wonderment wore off, quickly (especially when I had to learn how to drive in it.) I moved back to Southern California when I was 19, and professed to anyone in earshot that I was most excited to escape the 6 months of cold, gray weather, that would make your face sting and your lungs burn to breathe. I was done with winter. Years later, I met and married my husband who was in the Navy. When he got out of the military, we moved to his home state of Colorado. Let me be the first to tell you, I was not a willing passenger for that move. Sure, I went along with it because I knew it was the right move for my family, but I was less-than-thrilled for the upcoming winter months that I had grown accustomed to just casually skipping over while living in California. After spending three years in Colorado, it weighed on our hearts that returning to my hometown in Michigan was the best move for our family, so we packed up another set of U-Haul pods, and trekked to the north. That long drawn out explanation of my history of moving cross country was my way of painting the picture for you that, historically, winter and I do not mix. But ever since living in Colorado, I’ve got to experience winter through my “new” adult eyes, and also through the eyes of my children, and that’s been a wonderful thing for me; the first snow of the season is always my favorite. It’s new. It’s fresh. It hasn’t been driven on. People post excessively about it on Facebook (mostly good, though those complainey complainers are always mixed in.) And it flashes me back to the 10 year old Megan in the schoolyard in Kimball, Michigan, with her head back and mouth wide open trying to catch snowflakes, and tears rolling down my cheeks.
But as a half Californian half Michigander, the wonderment tends to wear off after that first snowfall. But this year? This year I have been preparing my mindset change over the past 4 months, and I think (and hope) it will sustain me over the next 6 months. It all started when I was casually browsing Instagram (shocker) and saw a graphic that said something along the lines of:
“Fall is natures way of showing you that change is beautiful.”
That made me pause for a moment, because, like 95% of most girls, I proudly hail my ultimate love for the fall to anyone and everyone. But as I started to look at autumn from a different mentality, I started to view my organic surroundings at a deeper level. There are a few takeaways that I walked away with, such as: autumn shows us that it’s beautiful to let go of things, and during autumn, every leaf gets it’s time to shine and be treated like a flower. But those thoughts wandered in to the winter season, since that’s usually right around the corner and seems to drag on for an eternity in Michigan. Winter is when life goes dormant. Without winter in Michigan, we wouldn’t have the abundance of delicious apples that we’re known to produce and spend all fall picking and consuming in some way, shape, or form (I’m particularly fond of the donut form, personally.) Without winter, we wouldn’t have acres of tulips that pop up in the spring, and have entire festivals celebrating. Without winter, those cherry trees wouldn’t ever bloom, or produce fruit to sustain that economy up in the northwest side of the state. There are so many beautiful things that happen in Michigan (and any wintery state) simply because it was allowed to lay dormant during winter. If my 3 year old mulberry tree that I planted when we moved here can drop it’s leaves and stand tall under a foot of snow outside, and come back months later spring to beautifully bloom- why can’t I? Why can’t a simple mindset change allow us the opportunity to view winter differently this year (and years going forward.)
As photographers, it’s well known that fall is our “busy season.” It’s the perfect weather to celebrate and take family photos, or get married. As we’re ending that busy season and staring into the cold eyes of winter, I challenge myself, and, in turn, you, to take a step back and celebrate winter with the same gusto that you do autumn. Sure, the air outside may hurt your face after a while, but I dare you to take a pause, and appreciate and meditate on the power of the quiet winter. Snow has no sound; it won’t rumble and shake your house, or throw bursts of energy from the sky like a summer thunder storm. But it’s still powerful, and mighty, in it’s own way. It’s literally putting a new layer on the ground, and giving everything a bright, blank white canvas to start over, and appreciate it for it’s beauty. It sparkles back at you when the light hits it, like the ground is covered with glitter. (But not the gross kind of glitter that you find and have to vacuum up from your floor months later after the craft is done. That’s the worst.)
Instead of sitting around this winter and using the downtime to focus on my website, or take some classes, I have made it my personal mission to go outside and celebrate the winter months for the beauty that it deserves, and I hope that you will join in with me. Let’s go explore the snow together and document your family having a mini snowball fight, or warming up and drinking hot chocolate by the fire pit outside. Let’s break out of the normality of fall family photos, and embrace those memories that are made when it’s quiet outside. Did you know that the sun peeking through the trees is my favorite, and is seriously stunning when there aren’t leafs on the trees blocking those rays? Or how about the evergreen trees that are the perfect reminder that some nature looks even prettier, and has it’s own time to shine during those months?
Michigan is an amazing state. Let’s not turn our backs and hole up indoors for the next six months, while we grumble and curse the frozen matter falling from the sky. As a lover of inspirational thoughts, I will leave you with this tidbit I heard on my local country radio station this morning, “If you don’t find joy in snow, you will be missing out on lots of joy in your life, because the snow will still be out there, regardless of how you feel about it.”
So who’s ready to chill out (punny!) in the snow with me this winter, while I document those family memories?
