Baby it's cold outside

Back in the day, before we had kids, we lived in a townhouse on the edge of a fairly large urban woods. One of my favourite times to go walking through the trails with my constant companion Katie the Dog was on a sparkling cold winter day. The fresh snow made the world clean and brilliant, and the mud and bugs of spring, summer and fall were absent. I'd daydream about a day when I could bring my future children on a similar hike with melancholy optimism; at the time, we were deep in our struggle with infertility.

Finally, I can bring my boys and the endlessly patient Katie out on just such a day and enjoy a wander in the snow. We can't go as far, or as fast, as we used to, but Katie didn't seem to mind. I couldn't help but laugh at her obvious joy as she leapt over drifts and ran freely down the snowy paths once again, laughing red-cheeked boys running excitedly behind her.