A Frosty Morning in Lund, Sweden
I bike to class every morning, not because I want to be fit, but because I’m lazy and cheap. If I wanted to take the bus, I’d have to get up five or ten minutes earlier, a small piece of sleep that I’m unwilling to part with. I’d also have to buy a bus pass, but why bother buying that when I already have a bike?
On Tuesday this week, I stepped outside to find the world coated in a layer of frost. Coming from California, this was a sight that I am quite unused to. It was only upon seeing the frost that I finally checked the weather and realized that it was 28 degrees Fahrenheit. My mind thought maybe it would be better to take the bus, but I was already standing in front of my bike and I’d be late if I took the bus. I wiped the layer of ice off of my seat and took off.
As I biked through the wintry frost, I reminisced. After we moved to California when I was little, I missed the snow. I missed the cold. Even in California, though, there were mornings when I would walk to school and there was a fresh layer of frost on the ground. At the time, I thought that if it just got a little colder, we could have snow, but it never came.
I thought about how I loved to step on the frosted grass and get a satisfying crunch beneath my feet. It’s been years since I’ve seen the world so frosted over. It’s been years since the name, Jack Frost, has crossed my mind. While I never forgot the magic of snow or the colors of autumn, I’d forgotten how magical a light dusting of frost can be.
Of course, the magic soon wore off when I realized that my gears were frozen solid, and I knew that I probably wouldn’t have the stamina or motivation to make the uphill ride to class while stuck in the highest gear. With a sigh of frustration, I pulled off at the closest bus stop, bought a ticket, and hopped on.
The issue with having class at 9am, means it’s prime rush hour time. Loads and loads of people kept piling onto the bus until I was sure it was well over the maximum capacity. I was a little irked when I felt something on my foot. I thought maybe the person sitting across from me had decided to put their bag there. To my delight, it was not a bag, but a dog. The person who sat next to me had two dogs and was trying to coax the black lab off of my foot while keeping the other dog from being trampled by the other passengers on the overcrowded bus.
I spent the rest of the ride petting the dogs and getting puppy kisses, making it by far the best bus ride I have ever had.
I like to think that life is just a bunch of good and bad things all happening at once. Sure, I was late to class, my bike was parked somewhere in the middle of town, and I had to ride an overcrowded bus. But on the other hand, I got to see the town coated in a beautiful layer of frost and, best of all, I got some free dog therapy. I think in this scenario, the good outweighs the bad.
