Profound things are happning in the universe right now. Beautiful things that are beyond our imagination. Things that aren’t meant to be known. But what I know is that the Earth is rotating around the Sun. Tomorrow the Sun will rise into the sky, like a cake that is being baked in the oven, and it will set below the horizon like a ship sinking into the water. A flower will bloom into the wild, and leaves will fall not so far from the tree. The breezy morning air will eventually turn into a teeth-chattering wind.

Time is travelling.

Winter is coming.

Change is everywhere.

I’ve always loved winter. Snuggling up under my covers and watching cartoons has been my favorite thing to do since I was little. I remember when the adults used to tell us kids to wear something warmer or put some socks on. Walking barefoot on the cold tiled floor felt like an absolute sin.

Most people don’t like the winter. Mainly because it’s too cold and depressing. I think winter is a time where we can slow down. There is so much going on in this world, it would be an absolute pleasure to step back and take a deep breath. Winter gives me an opportunity to appreciate change.

I realize now that things change fast. The absolutely enormous Earth rotates around the gigantic Sun in a matter of twenty four hours. Just like that, time slips out of our fingers like sand.

Three winters ago, I was hiding behind a tree with a water balloon in one hand and a water gun in another. Soaking wet from head to toe, I waited to hear my friend’s feet scrap across the pavement so I could jump out from behind the tree and launch the water balloon at her.  We had the time of our lives that day. It was our first official water balloon war. We had declared it to each other, and asked our allies to help us. The only problems I had was the huge science test after the weekend, and what I was going to wear for my friend’s birthday party.

This winter, I’m going to reunite with my friends. The same friends I had a water balloon war with three years ago. We will have the time of our lives, but by doing things differently than we did three years ago.

While things change around us, they change within us too. As the days go by, we see faces, we hear voices, and we remember darkness we don’t want to remember. So as the sky falls to bring the rain, we stay inside our little safe havens we call home, and hide away from the disguised beauty that gives us an opportunity to embrace change. To go outside for once and stand underneath the clouds as they cry with grief for the whole world. To enjoy the water droplets hitting our faces, and the sound of their pitter patter as they hit the Earth’s ground.  And then, to inhale the petrichor that lingers in the air.

Winter for me is when time travels slowly. It’s filled with steaming cups of hot chocolate, late nights on the beach stargazing, laughter, and joy. I see faces, hear voices, and remember all the things I don’t want to remember.

It’s the feeling you get when you know that everything is not perfect, but it’s good.

You come home thinking that everything has changed. But everything is exactly the same. The couches contain the same stains of dirt from when you were a little kid jumping up and down on them with your dirty feet, the bedrooms contain the same memories of when you played hide and side with your cousins when you were little, and the chair your grandmother used to sit and watch T.V on is in the same place as you’ve always known it to be. You realize that you’re the one that’s changed.

I believe that’s the most profound thing about life.