The last time I remember it snowing on Halloween, it was 2002. I was in college, and living in a rundown house with other theatre students ~ our house was sandwiched in between two other theatre houses, and it was by far, my favorite year of college.  It was magically idyllic.  And as cliched as that sounds, it’s the only description I know that fits my memory of it.

That Halloween, the snow came down hard and fast, mixed with sleet and ice, and I wrote my grandfather a letter, describing the yellow and green leaves frozen in ice across our yard.  We lost power ~ our neighbors lost power for three days ~ and I will remember it for many reasons, mostly all grand ~ but I will also remember that those words, handwritten in blue ink on lined paper, were probably the last words from me that my grandfather ever had.

He died that year ~ and in that same house, with those same roommates -whom I loved then and love still- I crumpled to the ground and felt real loss for a close relative, a person I knew, and loved deeply, irregardless of how little time I had with him as I grew up.  My memories of him are beautiful, and the edges are worn with age ~ a familiar trait of the passing of time.  And for some reason, the image of green and yellow leaves frozen in snow always brings him back to me. I hope he knew that the picture I was trying to paint with my clumsy words was meant to be poignant, and full of the surprise, wonder and power of nature.  My grandfather was many things to many people ~ but I only know truly what he was to me.  He was gentle, and thoughtful, and he was all things in life that now seem, perhaps, antiquated.  He was lovely.  And today, my heart is filled with memories of him.