Flakes

Recess! I was in first grade. We were standing in the playground. I was wearing my treasured dragon mittens hand-knit by Mom. They were friendly dragon mittens; the yarn inside their mouths was bright red, they had little white teeth and enormous floppy grey ears. A long strand of yarn running through the sleeves of my little coat joined the mittens to each other to prevent loss. Security. We had our heads tipped backwards, mouths open, tongues hanging out. Flurries had just begun. “Let’s see how many flakes we can catch on our tongues,” a classmate challenged. I wasn’t terribly competitive, but I loved snow so I joined the fun.

That was the age when we all learned the truth about snowflakes. No two are exactly alike. We learned how to fold paper and cut snowflakes using our blunt-end school scissors. Outside, we pretended each flake had a different flavor. Of course, most of mine were strawberry. Life was sweet. The worst thing I could imagine happening would be losing a mitten. Actually I did lose a bright red snow boot in a pile of snow that year. I never saw it again, in spite of my certainty that it would be visible after the spring thaw.

Loss is a terrible thing to endure. In one of my childhood winters, I wrapped a freshly made snowball in aluminum foil and secretly buried it deep in the bottom of the freezer. Months later when I checked on it, it had turned into a clear ball of ice. By June, the snowflakes had merged hopelessly together and I wouldn’t be able to playfully throw a fluffy ball of flakes at one of my unsuspecting older brothers. I’ve realized that when true tragic loss occurs in life’s storms, the sweet times I’ve had will help carry me through. So I’m gonna eat all the strawberry snowflakes I can while the flurries are falling instead of squirreling them away for another time.

This week I taught twenty-seven middle and high school art students how to cut paper snowflakes. Truth is, you are never too old to enjoy this activity. Delightful. Remember learning that each person has a fingerprint like no other, just like snowflakes? Sometimes I compare myself to others and end up feeling unimportant and insignificant. What a flake! In my intelligent designer’s eyes, I’m precious.

Life is short. At the end we will melt away and move on. Our lives can’t be preserved by wrapping them in foil and hiding them away. If you are in a blizzard, you were created with stronger crystals and you’ll endure. If you’re in the flurries of life, enjoy the ride. The wind can change when you least expect it. So from one uniquely faceted flake to the others, I hope you catch some wildly fun updrafts.