The moment we stepped outside, it was like winter wonderland. Sort of. I had never been that excited about hail before (Okay, I have. Who am I kidding? I grew up in the tropics!) but sharing that moment with Raven was like a whole new level of giddiness seeing the world through her eyes.

Before we knew it, we were scooping pellets of ice and putting them inside a cup and my brain was overheating from trying to answer all the questions coming out of her mouth.

“What happened?”

“Why is it raining ice?”

“Why is the ice melting on the heater?”

I gotta be honest. I don’t always have all the scientific answers ready for retrieval from my brain’s mental filing. When I come up short in the knowledge department, I make up for it with fantastical stories. That, I’m fairly good at. She devours my tall tales like a bowl of Uncle Tobys Cheerios.

At any rate, I almost didn’t recognize my street. It was beautiful.

*Raven at 3 years old