Carino,

Winter is getting late this year. I hoped it would snow, but that hope was just as futile as my attempts at becoming an adult figure skater.

Don't you dare to laugh, my friend! Unlike you probably remember, now I don't fall onto my butt whenever I try to move forward on the ice. I can even do a slight pivot. Impressed yet?

Now I'm better with ice, but I still miss the snow, those real-deal winters. Remember when it snowed so much at night, you couldn't dig out your car in the morning and had to call your brother you won't be coming? Andy was fuming, but you just shrugged and said there wasn't any work this time of the year. No one could possibly be planting roses in frozen ground, you said.

But you tried to plant a tree.

Yes, you failed, but it's the thought that counts.

You also said so your brother. You wanted to come but were unable to. The genuine intention mattered.

Not to him.

We stayed in, lazing on a couch, curled under a thin blanket because none of us could claw our way through the pile of snow that covered the log shelter. But even without the fire in the fireplace, it felt warm and cosy. I've never told you that ― looking back, I've never told you anything ― but it was indeed the best feeling falling in and out of sleep when snuggling to your chest. Knowing you were still there when I woke up made me feel warmer than any sweater I've ever got my hands on in your closet.

We could have stayed like that forever, or at least until the roads were clear enough for your brother to come and drag you out to work. We could, but Duke not so much. We completely forgot about him. He wasn't pleased. It was impossible to get our blanket back until we got his leash and collar. Such a stubborn beast.

It was still snowing when we left for the woods. The snowdrifts reached my waist. Considering the conditions, walking around would have been a hassle, so we turned around and headed back to the main road. It wasn't much better. I slipped and fell into a snowdrift. I remember how your eyes got wide when you didn't know what the hell happened to me, whether I broke something and had to be taken to a hospital. But as I started cursing my bad luck, you began to laugh. Such a meanie. When I pulled you down, you weren't that amused, making you fall atop of me. I've always been too quick to act. I didn't think it through. God, you were heavy, knocking the air out of my lungs.

Only Duke, bless this innocent soul, was ecstatic in that situation, probably thinking it was some sort of a game, we have started to play without him.

You were grumbling, Duke was barking, and I told you I loved you.

For the first time.

It was snowing for the first time that year.

They say if you see the first snow with the person you love, you'll stay with them forever.

Look at us.

Yours truly, B