One more step

One more second of watching water flow beneath clear ice. One more minute of waves breaking against a frozen shore. One more step out further down the fjord, just to see how the view changes around the next small curve or what beautiful frozen pool is maybe still ahead. I just didn’t want this time to end, I didn’t want to go.

The small waves don’t do justice to the brutal wind whistling down the beach. The kind of wind that makes you tuck your face into the collar of your jacket with your hood up. The kind that makes you walk onward with your head down to try to protect your face in place of there being any other reprieve.

"It was extraordinarily painful and beautiful at the same time. It’s what I love so much about winter and what I can never can let go of."

Sips of hot coffee

These moments seemed to bring a more full sensory awareness. Sipping coffee left time to just admire the light, the reflections, and all the textures of the ice. The sound of the wind at one angle was deafening against my hood, but at another I could hear it’s gentleness and power in the trees. All of this just seemed to prolong a kind of perfection. It felt like time could have just stopped, but of course the orange sunlight climbed up the mountains and the blue gradients became more intense.

I still never wanted to just turn back for the car. It was too beautiful. Every magical moment of water crashing up over the ice at the shore, or new clouds passing rapidly by catching final rays of the sun, or that harsh sensation of the sharp wind on my skin. It was extraordinarily painful and beautiful at the same time. It’s what I love so much about winter and what I can never can let go of.