Shouldn't…but Do

I like to break the ice.

All sorts of ice out there, especially this time of year. Like the frozen stacked ice that holds out against even a spring breeze or insidious “black ice” – so-called for its invisible nature – dangerous unfriendly stuff. Then there is my favorite kind of ice, the type that exposes itself to the elements, freezes and thaws daily,  and basically calls out for my attention.

It probably says something about me that I like to crunch ice sheets, but I’d rather not know what it is. My neighbors take pity on me, believing I have a navigational disability that causes me to walk on the left side of the road, bumping into snowdrifts (quick tip: regardless of your direction, the ice is always better on the left side of the road). Worse yet, the neighbors take even more pity on my children, believing they have inherited a congenital navigational disability, which I guess, in a way, they have.

There’s air in the friendly stuff, sometimes making pockets with beautifully crystalline surfaces that crack and break to reveal the water underneath. Sometimes when you put pressure on one side of sheet ice, water bubbles up a foot or so away – connections are always so interesting. Overhanging ice curbs one day, sheet ice the next, always something new to see. Change is good.

But the ice with no breath? That’s the stuff to avoid. Hidden among the rest, it can trip you up, its lack of depth leaves it shallow, dark and slippery.

Take a look next time you venture out, no telling what you might meet.  There’s fun in the sun, but also on the ground, sometimes in front of your feet.

Nothing like breaking the ice.