(This post is an imitation of Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, on of my favorite things ever. Go check it out.)
Luminismia- n. The feeling of waking up to find freshly fallen snow outside your window, the struggle to remember and catch and keep just a moment of your passing life to keep forever, a reminder of all things wonderful and an invitation to slow down and remember that life is about more than grades or school or corporate success.
Etymology:
From luminism, an American landscape painting style of the 1850s – 1870s, characterized by effects of light in landscapes, through using aerial perspective, and concealing visible brushstrokes. Luminist landscapes emphasize tranquility, and often depict calm, reflective water and a soft, hazy sky.
Lumi is also the Finnish word for snow.
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You wake up. The first memory of the day. A fresh moment, a moment of brief clarity before the chaos of the day starts.
In a short time, this moment is going to fade into the background of your memory.
So you wake up, needing for something different. Something to cling onto as torrents of other memories dissipate into the darkness. Something to keep as proof of a beautiful life lived. Something to remember tomorrow of who you once were.
Snow.
Looking out, to find that everything has been covered over with a blanket of white. It's something so simple yet so powerful.
There are so many shades of white that you'd forgotten existed. The world has decided to be different, just for a while. The trees, the branches, the rooftops, the lake.
Even the sky has turned white.
The children run outside to laugh and play in the snow. Adults stop what they're doing, just for a short moment, to recognize that today, here's something special. One out of 365 days. Your senses seem to sharpen so as to take in and retain as much as possible before it all melts.
Such is the pull of freshly fallen snow. When the world stops to celebrate life's moments, you think to yourself, what am I doing? Trudging through life and school and work, as always? Worrying about people and grades and places? Snow is an invitation to stop and remember, just for a moment, that joy is found in small places, added up, each tiny brush stroke an addition to a beautiful canvas of memories that make up life.
You're not going to remember each stroke of the brush, each carefully planned and loving line your creator has placed. But looking out at this snow, you realize that's okay. This is only a small part of the bigger picture. The darker parts and the brighter parts, though you may not remember them all individually, they're not going anywhere. Take the time to be grateful for that today. Take the time to be grateful for everything that's happened to you, or you'd never be here today.
And enjoy the snow.
(An unofficial Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows entry.)
