#14 of 31 Because Chloe Says So

You wouldn't know it by driving though the area. Piles of snow are everywhere. It snows almost every morning. It's cold.

But Chloe knows it's almost spring.

She met me at the door today, happy as always. We played. I put her outside. She basked in the sun.

Most of the winter has been awful (can you say SEVEN SNOW DAYS). Right now, there are huge piles of snow in our yard. In the front. In the back. Huge (well, not as huge as they could have been, but huge.)

Chloe hasn't wanted to play in the backyard because the snow is deep. Probably a foot and a half or so. And because of speech rehearsals, we haven't played out there. Our routine is, I come home, hook her on the chain out front. She does her business and I bring her back in.

Then we play.

The first thing she does is grab her ball and go to the door that leads upstairs. Chloe loves to play fetch. This winter we've had to play on the steps. 15 steps. I stand at the bottom, throw something up and Chloe races up the stairs to get it.

Lately, I don't even have to throw the ball. She has it in her mouth. I say go and she runs up the stairs. She races around, jumps on a bed, and then stands at the top of the stairs until I say "Come!" And then, in about three leaps, she's downstairs again.

Tonight, she kept going to the back door with the ball. I tried to tell her that it was too deep and I wasn't going to go outside.

She didn't listen.

I opened the deck door.

She cleared the space in two deer leaps.

As she hit the snow, she took a moment to turn around and look at me.

"You comin"?" she asked.

I shook my head no.

"Fine," she seemed to say.

And then she ran.

And she ran.

And she ran.

She smiles while she runs, by the way.

JOY.

And as I stood coatless on the deck, I knew why she was smiling.

There might be a foot and a half of snow on  the ground

But the sun is warming up.

Spring will come.

Because Chloe says so.