Day 98: Time traveling

We were on our way home from the day care center, my grandson and I. The sky had turned a steely gray, and huge fluffy snowflakes had begun to pelt the windshield. In that brief moment, the drab landscape was transformed.

Staring at the sky, I was transported to a place I knew well. The sky that day, some 50 years ago, was a similar shade of gray. I was in my bed, home sick for the day, sitting up and getting ready to color in a coloring book.

I could see the sky -- and the snow -- from my bed, and what I remember most about that moment is that everything seemed just right. The crayons still had their sharp tips. The coloring book had lots of fresh pages waiting to be colored in. And it was snowing, with the deep gray sky promising lots more to come.

Back to January 2010. The snow squall went as quickly as it had come, leaving barely a dusting on the pavement. The sun was getting close to the horizon, and the little boy in the car seat behind me had grown quiet as he gazed out the window. Maybe he was thinking about the snow, or maybe he was planning what he would do when he got home.

And maybe someday, years from now, a snow squall and a steely gray sky will transport him back in time to this moment with me and a time when life seemed, in that one moment, just right.