The early years...a memory

One of my favourite memories of you while I was an outreach worker was from my first winter.  It was one of the first snow falls of the season and the city was already decorated for the Christmas season.  There were little white lights on all of the trees and the snow was falling at a slight angle catching the light as it fell.  The streets that were full of people during the day were now almost empty as everyone had the good sense to be inside.  I had bundled up warmly so the only part of me that was cold was my face as the flakes hit my cheeks. I remember looking around at you transformed, peaceful, beautiful.  It was a good moment of rest in a job that was often full of crisis.  That night still pops into my head every year when the core is first decorated with lights.  Those were the days before the nativity scene was enshrined behind plexi-glass.  I used to think that it would be an appropriate picture to replace the baby Jesus in the manger with someone trying to sleep, huddled against the cold with a combination of cardboard and sleeping bags...in a Matthew 25 kind of way.  At the end of the shift I joined a friend at one of the local pubs to listen to a local band though I can't remember which one.  It was a perfect Hamilton night.