Winter

Today, I missed winter…and home.

Thick winter trench coats. With pockets stretched out from jamming my hands inside in weak attempts to keep out the chilly air. Hand knitted scarves from high school. Warm and familiar yarn lovingly chosen as a birthday present. Fake leather boots that go up to my knee. Bought for the comfort of walking around a huge campus in the constant four month rains of Vancouver. Never worked anyways.

Smells of pumpkin spice lattes wafting from a certain overpriced, over-commercialized coffee stop (er…shop). Agora* lures with their winter pies and heated basement and endless homework assignments. Breaths of mist following sleepy yawns. Flakes of snow arriving with the early darkness. Hoods pulled up on heads, insulating against the dots of white twisting into a small storm announcing the arrival of the 43 Joyce Station bus.

Fingers freeze over typing the 5312nd word in an essay due at midnight. Toes of one leg curled under my seat. Belle** curled on top of my other. Faint rising steam from the hot tea dissolving into the cold air, for the environmentalist had to turn off the heating to save the planet. Movie nights with mom/dad, snuggled in one blanket, laughing at some ridiculous Cantonese comedy, pushing my icy cold feet towards their side seeking warmth; eliciting yelps of protests.

Belle zooming around the snow, nose covered in snowflakes, eyes shining like a puppy while white whiskers betray her age. Mom and I never fail to laugh at her antics. Black against white. Tail wagging in the air like ostrich feathers. Walks always doubled in time whenever it snowed.

The sigh of relief stepping into a heated room. Stomping the moisture off my boots. Shaking the droplets from my hood. Feeling the dampness rise off my clothes. Settling down on the wooden chair for another interesting lecture. Another interesting seminar discussion. Another long cold night under a blanket, reading, thinking, and writing.

…

Ah. The indulgence of air condition is a weak imitation of winter.

It’s one of those days.

*Amazing student run restaurant in the MacMillan Building at UBC.

**The dog I will never forget.