Puddles

Yesterday the temperature outside broke forty degrees. 

For months now I have walked my neighborhood with my chin tucked firmly into the collar of my jacket, the outermost layer of a fortress of clothes meant to protect me from the wind and cold. But yesterday I stuck my neck out of my cocoon. Like a timid turtle, I sniffed the air. I squinted into the morning light. And I saw puddles.

Imagine that. Puddles. The remnants of endless piles of sleet and snow, finally wrestled into submission by the sun. 

I stared into the watery reflection, cool and still. And then I leapt up and stomped so hard water flew out from beneath my feet in every direction. 

Imagine that. 

“Every child's first lesson in reflection, refraction, surface tension, colloidal solutions, fluid dynamics, and what not, begins with a pool of water on the road." ― Vineet Raj Kapoor