Times Are A`Changing

Winter only really settled into Denver a few days ago, which I guess isn't too far off since the season only really officially began on December 21st.

Some will argue that it has already snowed once more than a month ago, and they'd be right - technically. For me, however, one of the defining factors of snow is that it sticks around. It has presence. It dances down from the sky in tickling wisps, a fractal flight pattern whimsical enough to make catching a flake on your tongue a genuine triumph. It billows to the ground in heavy flakes, testing botanical and manufactured architecture alike. However it falls, it stays, and the landscape is transformed into a roughly sculpted porcelain facsimile of itself.

I was disappointed that this Christmas was not a white one, but delighted nonetheless to receive SOME snow. Even the accompanying subzero temperatures were a welcome shift. Anybody who has stepped outside and choked on the cold, eyes watering, throat constricted, knows what I mean. The blurry foliage of spring and summer is long gone, and even the frayed edges of fall have been stripped away to a razor sharpness that hides nothing. You cut to the core of things and see what will survive.

I am not without love for the other seasons, but I've always thought pining for either the inevitable or impossible is a waste of time. I'll treat each season with reverence when their taste is strongest and colors most severe. But for now, we rest in winter.

This winter earns special note for a few reasons. First, it marks the rough one year anniversary of my first foray into video game design. I've been involved to varying degrees on several projects now whittled down to two, both of which show more promise as the days go on. Still, like everything else in winter, we'll have to see what is left to bloom and flourish when the ice recedes. It's going to be an exciting spring.

Second, all signs indicate that this will be my last winter spent in the company of a few of my oldest and closest friends. Warmer weather and sandier beaches (or any beaches at all, really) have long conspired to take them from my beloved Centennial State, so I cannot say it is a surprise. I can say, at least, that it is a shock. Words and plans can only prepare you so much. It is only the doing of a thing that affords understanding.

Still, just as the seasons change, certain cycles remain the same. Old friends go, but they meet again, richer for the time spent apart in the stories they'll tell and the new awareness of where they stand. It's the best friends that drag you around the world with them, one way or another.

So - to snow and sun, to comings and goings, and to winter kicking everybody's ass. I have a feeling 2011 is gonna be one sweet ride.