I woke up, and the world was frozen.

Not glistening with frost or fluffy with snow, but frozen. The previous night’s freezing rain had left behind a coating that was as thick as a pinkie finger and as crystal clear as glass. This layer of ice seemed to cover every exposed piece of material. Nothing had escaped the harsh hand of mother nature from the previous night’s ice storm.

Some, myself not included, would have drawn some sort of deep parallel between the frozen world and their own introspective thoughts and feelings. Maybe these enlightened people would compare the icy outdoors to sadness or to peace or to whatever their creative minds could come up with.

However, when I awoke to this frigid and still outdoors, I was humbled. I had no other real thoughts than a childlike wonder and awe for the beautiful world around me. It was like every inch of nature had been preserved in a museum, covered in glass so they would be out of harm’s way.

I was amazed by the simplest of things. The woods visible from my window were no longer drafty trees waving in the wind but a still and majestic forest, without the slightest quiver of movement. Optical illusions made it seems as if every tree was adorned with the finest of silver. A bush with red berries on it stood out starkly in the monocolored world. Its previous ordinary nature was transformed, and it was now the star of the landscape.

I felt as though I was living inside an intricate painting. The painter had taken his time to craft every bit of his masterpiece with precision and care. Not a beat of nature was out of place, and it all melted together into one cohesive painting.

And I was lucky enough to inhabit it.

A simple trip to the grocery store was elongated by multiple stops to pull the car over, so my family and I could admire the beauty and capture some photos. The pictures were beautiful but were nothing compared to the spectacular view of the real thing.

I was grateful for the ice day for gifting myself and others with a break from school. It helps to ease some of the stress of junior year and provide a day of rest.

And yet, no therapy could have possibly been any better then simply admiring the wonderfully frozen world we all got to live in, if only for a little while.