Footprints in the Snow

I am feeling oddly giddy about the season we are in at the moment. Darkness lingers longer in the morning allowing me to pad about our dimly lit house with a sense of peace. Night arrives sooner which coincides nicely with my personal preference to power down early. And our first dusting of snow has reminded me of what I love about the upcoming weather ahead. Footprints in the snow.

I have stopped window-gazing lately so I haven't been spotting our neighborhood rabbits as regularly as I did once upon a time. But I have seen the odd one so I know they are there. There is simply no evidence of their presence.

Last night, my daughter arrived home after dark and told me to check out the oddly suspicious "rocks" in the neighbor's yard. Rocks? I was not in the rabbit mindset so it took a minute to clue into the fact there were rabbits next door. One big one and a small one.

What a happy moment it was as I gazed at what I am almost certain was a mom/baby combo. The baby was facing Mom, ever watchful of her movements. Baby tried to be still like Mom but its youthful exuberance trumped the "rock" pose and baby ran a small loop around Mom and eventually landed back in the same rabbit print in the snow. This happened twice before Mom decided it was time to move on. Baby leapt at the opportunity and raced across the street. Mom was in hot pursuit and they were checking out yards out of my view when I lost sight of them.

Ahhh! It is the season when even if I don't actually spot the rabbits, they leave evidence of their presence. Even when we have faith in what we cannot see, it lightens the spirit just a little more to see proof that what we believe to be true is fact.