SEVERE WEATHER WARNING

I am in a hotel for a conference of some sort.  There are many people and booths around me and I am particularly drawn to a series of tables that contain beautiful gold jewellery.  These tables look more like gypsy caravans and are all strung together in such a way that one can walk right through them from the inside.  

The overhead announcement system comes on, and we are told that some very severe weather is being tracked coming our way, in the form of a series of blizzards.  Some people immediately begin to pack up and leave, but most of us think that staying put is the better idea.  The hotel is very happy with our decision and the staff begins to make arrangements for extra food, linens, candles and other emergency supplies.

I go outside into the beautiful garden grounds.  It is night and to my surprise, I find my ex-husband sitting at one of the benches with his current wife.  We politely greet each other and are joined by my youngest son.  I look up at the clouds that are sailing by, and the brilliant stars behind them.  I tell my ex to look there, to really look and see "what's behind the clouds".  He does, but somehow misses the wonder and beauty of the cosmos.  "There is no moon", he suddenly remarks, almost in a panic.  "Shouldn't there be moonlight?"  I respond, "No, there is no Moon out tonight, because She is in Her Dark phase.  It is as it should be."  

I walk away, saddened that such simple knowledge should be lost on him, and join another group of people who are on top of a hill, overlooking a valley of twinkling lights.  And in the horizon, against the sky, is the leading edge of the storm.  The world and the sky just disappear as the curve of cloud and snow seems to swallow it all up.  We look at each other and without another word, head back to the hotel to hunker down.  As we walk, I think of the movie "Day After Tomorrow", and the first winds strike us.

The last image I recall is of us trying to make inroads and paths in the huge mountains of snow in the world that has turned totally crystalline white against the deep blue sky.