The other morning, I went out to my car, intending to head over to the post office. What should meet my eyes, but my windshield covered in frost! I wasn't going anywhere until I scraped that all off, I grumbled to myself.
I got into the car, started the engine, turned the heater up full, and was about to step outside to begin the scraping.
At the last second, as I was about to exit, I realized anew that situations which at first seem such a pain can instead prove to be serendipitous opportunities for beauty. Something had caught my eye in the crystalline formations on the glassy canvas (at the top centre in the accompanying photo). Was it a beautiful ballet dancer in an arabesque moment, facing to my left with one leg sharply bent to the right? That was my first thought, but then I realized she’d be performing on an ice-cold stage!
No, not a ballerina, but a charming figure skater, here to remind me to say thanks again to my figure-skating daughter-in-law, Aina Arro, for her New Year’s week visit. She and our son, James, had overcome the hassle of flight disruptions out of Toronto to give us special joy for the holidays.
So, I thanked Aina once more, and shared with her my photo of the frosty skater on my windshield.
Aina responded that the skater was in a low spiral position, perhaps moving to the accompaniment of the Winter Largo section of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. And she should know. A figure-skating coach now, she’s formerly a widely travelled professional figure skater with Ice Capades, Holiday on Ice, and Grease On Ice.
And even when visiting with us here in Alberta over the years, she hasn’t passed up opportunities to put blade to ice. Take, for example, Aina and James’ visit seven years ago, when they ventured out to Lake Louise. James took the accompanying photo of her on the ice in front of the Chateau Lake Louise.
Thank you, Jack Frost, for celebrating the gift of Aina among us.
