Snow On Christmas Eve

I'm sitting here with my cappuccino, watching the evening gloom settle in across the snow scattered horizon. It's cold here today, snowing off and on since late last night. I response, I had the perfect kind of morning, one which lasted until 3:00 PM this afternoon. I rested in bed, doing little, enjoying the view from my bedroom window.

I awoke this morning at about 11:00 AM, casting my glance to the snowfall outside. The trees are crusted with wintery icing, the sounds from the road below muffled by the new fallen snow. Katherine encouraged me to get up, to which I replied "eventually". She said she had made my coffee, by which she meant breakfast. She makes me breakfast in bed regularly, then sits with me as I eat, using a tray to hold both of our meals and coffee. This one was special; in addition to my usual feast of sliced cheese and meat, along with a segmented half-orange and some raisins, she had made a fried egg, and fried the meat slices too. It was delicious. We ate, we talked. Mostly I talked, mostly about how I missed my children, especially at Christmas.

After breakfast Katherine once again asked if I was going to get up. I said I wanted to lay in bed for a while, perhaps for a long while. She approved, wandering off to do whatever it is she does around my small apartment when I am in bed and she is up and about. I didn't lay down. Instead I adjusted my pillows so I could sit up, play with my phone, look out the window at the falling snow, while still napping here and there a bit.

After a couple of hours Katherine came back, snuggling into bed beside me. We talked some more about life, the changes of the last year, travel, the future. We hugged and held each other as we pondered once more the snow outside the window. At some point things got active, followed once again by more time cuddling, hugging, talking about stuff, our stuff.

Then, just before 3:00 PM, the spell was broken, both by time and by an observation from Katherine. She noted that my breathing was faster than hers, more shallow. She has been noticing this for a while, and commented that earlier this year she and I breathed at the same rate, but now I breathe faster than she does. I explained that part of this was due to physical activity, and part of it was due to my failing core muscles. I've been working harder these days to get a good breath, to get the air I need. With shallower breathing, I must breath more often.

The morning was gone. I had been replaced suddenly by late afternoon, the skies becoming darker in these short winter days, the snow blocking out the distant view. So I got up, made us a cappuccino, and here I am, ready to start my day. Even at 4:00 PM. Tonight we are dropping Kate off at the airport; she is going to visit her Mom for Christmas. Katherine and I will go looking at Christmas lights. In the evening, we will unwrap a present, at her insistence. My short day will end at around midnight, when I will crawl into bed, the glow from the streetlamps outside illuminating the ever present snow, both falling and on the ground.