Where’s the Snow?

December has arrived in Kerala, but there is no snow on the ground and no hope for it. There is no chill in the air and no thick winter coat to awake from hibernation. There is simply heat, humidity, and that endless sea of green that I refer to so often. I prefer it this way.

Although everyone, myself included, hopes for a white Christmas where one is available, I can’t imagine that I’ll miss the snow. I won’t have a yearning to go sledding or build myself a Frosty; I honestly never got into snow play. Who wants to play in something that is wet and cold? I won’t miss the dreadful cold either. I never liked having to get dressed twice in the morning – one time as usual and another time just to go outside.

I can’t honestly tell you that I enjoy the heat and humidity here. I have not stopped sweating since August 31 – the day I stepped off the air-conditioned plane. But I’d rather be sweating than freezing; so, here in Kerala, I’m welcoming winter with open arms, while at home I’d probably be going into hiding.

The only problem I see with Kerala’s unchanging weather is that I have lost all sense of time. I have concluded that time moves faster when Mother Earth isn’t marking it for you. I saw no leaves change colors and fall to the ground, and I’ll see none of the bleak winter nights that alert those in the Midwest of the passing of time. But time keeps passing, changing weather or not.

After three months, I thought I had learned well how to live fully in each present moment, but as I contemplate the three months that are now behind me, I wonder where they’ve gone. Each present moment becomes a past moment so quickly, and as I witness time flying by, though the seasons have not changed, I know I must cherish the present as I live it and the past as I remember it.

After all, it will be spring before we know it.