What's Missing From This Picture?

So, I took a walk through the neighborhood last night - the same neighborhood that I grew up in.  It was cold and snowing.  School had already been canceled for the following day.  I truly love walking on nights just like this one, and make it a point to do so every time I get the chance.

As I was walking, watching it snow, listening to the silence, no cars or people moving, it struck me that something was missing.

When I was a kid - you know, a couple of years ago - my brothers and I, along with just about everyone we knew, would be out in full force.  Dragging or carrying whatever we had to sled with: Flexible Flyers, inner tubes, discs, anything that would slide.  And no matter what street you were on, or what neighborhood you veered into, it was the same.  Kids, especially teens, would all be out playing in the snow.

Now, I know that times are different, and it's difficult to just turn your kids loose on the streets, but seriously?  Not a single person was out while I was walking.  No one sledding, no one walking, no one shoveling.  No one.  Not even any footprints in the snow, and very few tire tracks in the street.

I couldn't help but think how sad this was.  Such a simple pleasure, to go and enjoy an evening outside in the snow.  The quiet and solitude of being out on a night like that is almost magical.  Yet as far as I know, I was the only person enjoying it.  At least in the one mile loop I traveled.

To me it's a shame that the only person out enjoying, and appreciating, a cold snowy walk at night, was a guy in his 50s, who would have been as happy pulling a sled around the neighborhood as he was 40 years ago.  Makes you wonder a little if anyone looking out their window when I went by was thinking "what's that nut doing out there?".

I hope I never lose the desire, or ability, to do just what I did last night; experience the feel, the sound, even the smell, of walking or being outside on a snowy night.