Memories

"To love and let go, love and let go, love and let go...it's the single most important thing we can learn in this lifetime.” ― Rachel Brathen

Looking out at the snow, Haruo realized just how fleeting life was, the face that gazed back at him out of the mirror in the morning was weathered and lined with the experiences that he had gone through over the years. As he gazed at the picture of his daughter and her husband, he thought about the many times that he had held her as a child; it seemed like yesterday.

He looked over at the marriage portraits of River and his own wedding, his oldest son and Bella and now Alanna and Yasahiro. And he thought to himself that life went by so fast.

River noting the brooding expression on her husband's face enticed him to go visit his father's grave and River's mother's and then there in that little memorial alcove they built a snowman.

By morning, the snow that had fallen at night had stopped and the morning dawned crisp, cold and clear.

The day was mostly relaxing with River starting a new painting and that evening, they played a game of hoops in the snow, of course, not for very long as it was too easy to get cold.

The next morning, it started to snow heavily again.

And the clouds that covered the sky that afternoon made for a beautiful sunset.

Snowy Vows

The snowfall brought a plethora of things to do and Central Park was one of the more interesting places with a blanket of white fluffy cold stuff. The snowboard half-pipe was a popular place.

As was the skating rink...

Brayden did his homework at the park and enjoyed what little free time he had. He was determined to graduate at the top of his class.

There were very few days in which it didn't snow...and that night after Brayden got home, it really started to come down.

The mistletoe wasn't just for Haruo and River. Evidently Alanna and Yasahiro took advantage of it too. The house just seemed much more empty now that Bella and Aidann had moved into Villa Alto.

Alanna and Yasahiro decided that winter would be the perfect time for a wedding. And considering that both of them had non-biological children (Alanna evidently adopted a young boy...who didn't have a family while they were trying to figure out how to make Alanna an adoptive mother of Zlarb)

Because of the exhorbitant costs of a wedding on the wife's end, the two decided just to get married without the lavish ceremony. And since it was freezing cold, they opted to do the ceremony without the dress...of course though, she had one for the wedding portrait.

As it was, it was a great decisions as the snow started falling during the ceremony...and didn't stop.

Yasahiro ran into Aidann a few days later who apologized for not being able to be there as Bella and he were still having to deal with their two offspring and that Bella wasn't getting much sleep, so he had to be there to take care of the two of them.

And Central Park was gearing up for the biggest Snowflake Day party that they could ever have.

Winter Wonderland

Things started to freeze up almost immediately as Fall transitioned into Winter and it wasn't very long before the frost gave way to snow.

And as it got closer to Snowflake Day, of course, the mistletoe went up. Hey, with such a beautiful wife like River, of course, Haruo couldn't resist a smooch under the mistletoe.

The park across the street turned into a veritable Winter Wonderland and all the inland lakes had frozen over.

Snowflake Day was one of Haruo's most favorite holidays and he loved decorating the house and spending time with his wife at the kitchen table.

The town was something out of a Snowflake Day carol and the scenic views would be great for a Snowflake Day Card.

Their fishing pond had frozen over so Haruo and River took the opportunity to go skating on it without the fear of falling through the ice.

Of course, the heir nearly had a close-call when he had the "brilliant" idea that he was going to go out and sleep in a sleeping bag outside in the falling snow. Luckily something kept his father up, whether it was some sort of foreboding feeling, that prevented him from sleeping, but it was enough to keep Brayden from falling into a sleep from where he would never wake up. After which Haruo scolded him and told him to get his hind-end into a hot shower and stay the heck inside.

Hopefully, he won't get the bright idea to try that again.