Free Write 1 - The Smell of Air In Winter

I grew up in Iowa, perhaps for more of my life than I would like to admit. Winter overtakes life in Iowa. Memories both bad and good come with every first snowfall: building tunnels and snowmen and forts, barefoot running to meet Michael in Iowa for the first time, frostbite after my first snowball fight when I was young.

In Iowa, the cold is dry, very different from where I call home now. The cold burns my nostrils and lungs when I first step outside. The air is crisp and clean and healthy, much different than the muggy mosquito summers in the same place.

The air in winter smells new. Then, quickly, I tire of summer and spend my time inside where the winter air smells like pine, hot cocoa, chili, and M&M cookies. As much as I hate winter, so many of my good childhood memories revolve around the snow. Even some of my great adult memories revolve around the snow. Maybe, as much as I have convinced myself to hate the cold, there really is a magic to that fresh winter air that allows beauty to endure in death and my five year old self to exclaim, "Look, Mommy, there's diamonds in the snow!"