Today I encountered some behavior worth emulating...

This gray Seattle morning, I stayed in bed as long as I could before needing to get up for yoga class. At the last possible minute, I climbed unwillingly out of bed, and shuffled out to the kitchen to start coffee water heating. On the way, I noticed that about a quarter-inch of snow had accumulated overnight. "Huh, snow--nice," I thought dimly, and began searching for the coffee press.

A few minutes later, my housemate C emerged from her room, and shuffled out towards the kitchen. But the sight of the snow stopped her in her tracks. "Oh! SNOW!" she exclaimed, and bounced across the living room to the window. "Oh!" More appreciative bounces.

I realized that I was seeing a fine example of Being Here Now, and began to feel excited about the snow, too. I thought that perhaps I would have time to take a walk after class.

Our coffee was ready. "So why do you think snow makes people feel excited?" I asked, as we sat at the breakfast table and looked out over the backyard. It's a break in the routine, she said--something different that makes a familiar landscape seem new and dramatic. I thought it perhaps also had to do with happy childhood memories. I described how my brothers and I used to tramp out giant "Merry Christmas" greetings in the snow for pilots. She likes that there are a lot of kinds of snow, and we both like the way that a blanket of snow makes everything look clean. Besides snow, she also loves the ice storms in her native Iowa, and the way that the ice-coated trees sparkle in the sun.

And then our coffee was drunk and it was time to head off to class.