The Sound of Snowflakes on Christmas Eve 1962. School was out for Christmas break. I was 12. A little before dark, snow started falling. It snowed all night. Brad and I slept in the unfinished attic. Through the night I listened to winters wind whistling through the cracks in our attic walls. I listened to winters wind weaving songs accompanied by the cedar and pine trees surrounding and protecting our home. Before daybreak I heard Mama and Daddy downstairs. Daddy loading the furnace with coal then going out the back door headed to the barn to feed the animals. Mama in the kitchen cooking breakfast. She was singing, quietly, Oh Christmas Tree. I smelled bacon and biscuits and gravy and coffee. Yes I was already drinking coffee. Started when I was 6. I woke Brad up. Brad was a sound sleeper. I said, Hey, Brad, wake up. Lets go see how much snow we got. Hey, get up. Weve got to go milk the cows, chop the ice on the pond, and bring the coal in. Come on, Mamas cooking breakfast. Im going down. Brad and I had breakfast with Mama and Daddy. As always Mamas cooking was delicious. We ate every crumb. Brad licked his plate. Daddy left for work at the mines. After Brad and I finished our morning chores I got my .410 shotgun and went hunting. It had snowed over a foot during the night and giant flakes were still falling. The snow wasnt letting up. I walked and walked and walked. I was in awe of the beauty, all the beauty that surrounded me. I lost track of time. I found myself in a field surrounded by woods. All around me the wind whispered through the limbs the branches of the barren trees. The wind whispered through the fur of the evergreen trees. A lone crow cawed in the distance, searching its way home. It was then I realized that I was hearing a sound louder than any other, a loud but gentle and soft sound, the sound of falling snowflakes. That sound, that moment, comes back to me often, including now, transporting me to a time and a place long gone, but a time and a place that will live eternally in me in my hearts memory. Ron Whitehead Copyright (c) 2014 Ron Whitehead
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 11:26:25 +0000
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