Taken by Karice Bolton

was.
    “We’ll put the groceries away and meet you outside,” Cyril said, winking at Athen.
    Athen bundled up and helped me put on my coat, hat, and scarf .
    “Sounds great,” Athen said, picking me up and carrying me over the threshold to the great outdoors.
    “Hey, what are you doing with me?” I squirmed in his arms, pretending I didn’t want to be there.
    “You’ll see,” he murmured.
    B efore I could catch my breath, he shot us into the air . The wind soared over the only small portion of skin that was exposed , and the beautiful snow covered trees became our equal. He held me tightly as we glided over the Douglas Firs that looked as if a fresh coat of flocking had been sprayed on them.
    “Oh, Athen. This is beautiful.”
    “Wait until you see where we’re going.”
    Our bodies fit as one as he flew me higher and higher, leavin g the tips of the trees behind in our wake.
    “This is heaven on earth,” I gushed.
    “ You are heaven on earth.” I felt the smile spread across his lips and couldn’ t imagine my life any other way, with any other person.
    The jagged, snow-packed mountains were coming into view as we climbed higher and higher , and the trees became sparser. His speed decreased as he flew us into a bowl, surrounded by mountains.
    “Where is this?” I asked.
    “A mountain top glacier,” he replied, landing.
    “It’s beautiful . The blues are like none I’ve ever seen before.”
    “Nature’s hard to beat when it comes to beauty. That’s why you’re as close to perfection as it come s .”
    “Very funny. Considering the wind speeds we just encountered I can’t imagine how I look anything like your implying.” I grinned, but feeling extremely happy to hear those words.
    He grabbed my hand and started pulling me to the turquoise mounds.
    “Okay, stay here,” he said.
    He walked over to the closest glacier mound and shoved his fist into the ice, splintering the turquoise into many beautiful pieces. Scooping up the pieces, he piled them in front of me and went back again . Driving his fist into the ice, fracturing the pieces once more.
    “What are you doing?” I laughed.
    “You’ll see.”
    He dumped the other pile of pieces next to me and began sorting them out by size.
    “Want me to help?” I asked.
    “Sure.” He glanced over at me and smiled.
    Once all of the ice was sorted by size and I was left completely baffled, he began grabbing the large ones and staking them deep into the ground as if it were nothing .
    “You know the glass pieces you make us?” He grinned , looking over at me .
    I nodded.
    “Well, I’ve never been very good at glasswork, so I thought I’d give you something special that I’d make for you, my angel.”
    Searching for the perfect pieces of ice to perfect his masterpiece, h e constructed a snow angel twice my size. It was beautiful. As the sun hit it, the wings sparkled and created prisms I never knew possible.
    “Words can’t even express,” I started.
    Placing the halo on top, he dusted his hands and came over to me.
    “I wanted to make a snow angel that would last.”
    “It’s beautiful,” I whispered.
    “Thanks.”
    “This makes my glasswork look like child’s play.” I laughed.
    “Do you wanna try?” he asked.
    “Totally.”
    Walking toward the statue, I let out a scream as Arie and Cyril lurched at me from behind the angel, scaring me to death. “You guys are in so much trouble,” I yelled, but a ll I could think of to d o was throw snow in their faces , and Athen was quick to join in disrupting any possibility of me creating my own angel.
    A full-blown snowball fight had been instigated and there was no way Athen or I would ever lose. We ran back up the bowl to look for cover and a place to stockpile as many snow bullets as we could make. Athen was already on the task, creating one snowball after the other in mere seconds.
    “They don’t even know what they’ve got coming to them.” I laughed.
    “No. They don’t.”
    I