First snow

Grown-ups are not so pleased when it snows. Instead, they feel mixed emotions. Some feel bittersweet as they realize it is already the year's end while others are worried about the slippery icy road to work the next morning. When it snows heavily, sometimes you feel anxious as you might get stuck on the road while other times you want to be trapped in that snow away from all the complicated reality. Children take delightfully slow steps when it snows, but adults walk slowly, their steps held back by their minds filled with a range of different feelings.

There are numerous minds, reactions, and scenes related to snow. And today, I would like to introduce a unique one out of those. The title is "First Snow" but there is hardly any word of snow in the book, let alone a tiny snowflake. Instead, you see a person making green onion kimchi in a large rubber basin. Considering the volume, that person is making kimchi to give someone else, rather than having it all to oneself. And it is obvious that someone loves green onion kimchi.

So, where can you find that snow except the title of the book? The snow must be falling outside seen from the window which does not appear in the poem. The first snow of the year reminds you of that special someone, and that thought drives you to make green onion kimchi. So, the menu of the day is prepared both because of that special someone and of the first snow. We all have someone special in our hearts to whom we want to offer a decent meal. If you read the poem, you would want to remain a worryless child when it snows, thinking only about that special someone and the green onion kimchi he or she loves. You would want to sit with your loved ones and eat what you love together with those people you care about. Happiness is not distant from us.