night air

We have been out of school over a week. The snow is inspiring. I miss Maine. Have you smelled snow at 10 pm? That is now my cherished smell. It is the smell of laying in a field, a yard or the middle of the street and feeling the rest of my life is as wide as that bright black sky, as brilliant as the belt of Orion and as serpentine as the asphalt my head rests upon. I shared my secret with my 10 year. Yes she stretched out in the middle of a suburban lane with me and pointed out Orion's belt. Our senses opened to cars on the adjacent street, to the snow embracing underneath us and the smell that cleansed our souls. That's it. The smell of snow cleanses my soul, I don't know about you or anyone else but for a girl from the North, it has filled a place I didn't now needed filling. Is that why I have been ice skating for the last year and pulling my daughter into it? The smell of clean ice wipes my slate clean, the tragedies of the day dissipate with each blade slicing my ice. It is my ice just as the snow on my lane is mine. My home comes to me with low temperatures and precipitation. What is home to my Central American students? What smells and sensations revive their souls so they can challenge another day in vinyl sided cells?