It's raining outside. It's been raining steadily most of the day. Now it's interspersed with snow - big, fat white blobs that pelt out of the sky like wads of cotton candy. Now they fall faster, thirty seconds of blizzard; now they drop back. The temperature is dropping steadily. I stare out the window in a trance. Have I ever seen snow this strange, this lovely? I don't believe I have.
I've been accepted into Virginia Tech's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, official as of a few days ago. My sense of achievement is somewhat overshadowed by more pressing financial issues, but I am nonetheless proud of achieving a goal I set out almost three years ago. I know this is a milestone, something I will look back on in later years and remember as a turning point, and so wait to grok in fullness.
Thoughts of the future weigh heavy upon me. Thoughts of the past, however, especially recently, are much lighter. Yesterday saw the second of two day hikes for the backpacking class I'm taking. It threatened rain, but none fell until after we were home. We went to Dragon's Tooth, a section of the AT near Roanoke, 5 miles up and back. It was foggy when we reached the top, but cleared enough soon after to reveal most of the next ridge and the valley below us. Kelly's Knob, where we'd liked the Saturday before, had been blanketed in 2 inches of snow, with more drifting down on us, rather heavily at the top. It was wonderful. Our "final" overnight hike will be in two weeks. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for good weather; I don't mind hiking in the rain and cold, but I'd rather not sleep in it, thank you!
And now I'm off again - presumably, to check in on old friends and new. So much time, and so little to do...wait, scratch that, reverse it...
:)
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