While we were rounding this morning (”rounding” is a verb used to describe the practice of systematically presenting, discussing, and visiting patients while they are hospitalized; or, more simply, it’s that thing that happens when like twenty people in white coats barge into the room of a patient and surround him or her like s/he’s the table in the center of a Situation Room), I kept turning my head over my shoulder to look out the window.

(Just to be clear, I’m not part of a twenty-member team right now. And I’d like to think that psychiatrists don’t barge into rooms, though I’ve seen that happen, too.)

The other people in the room soon had puzzled expressions on their face. They both (yes, I’m part of a three-member team right now) have lived in New York for several years now and, surely, were not impressed with what was happening outside.

“Sorry,” I finally said. “It’s really snowing outside and I’ve never seen anything like this before!”

“Yeah, it is coming down,” the resident said. We both approached the window and peered out. Buildings a mere five blocks away had seemingly disappeared; there was only a hazy grey-white blur in the distance. Closer to the window were flakes of snow whimsically twirling in different directions. Down below, the cars parked along the street were iced with a uniform layer of snowy frosting and where there was grass this morning, there were now only lawns of white. Cars and buses rumbled down the road, their windshield wipers flinging snow up and around. Pedestrians bundled in scarves, hats, and long jackets plodded on the sidewalk, leaving behind light grey footprints that betrayed that none of them were walking in straight lines. The dark asphalt of the street provided high contrast to the white islands of buildings and lawns.

“That’s amazing!” I exclaimed. “Look at all of that!”

“Yeah, winter has arrived,” the attending commented. Thankfully, our three-person cohort is informal enough that they both easily tolerated my wonder.

Soon, all three of us were peering out the window, our noses nearly touching the glass. And though there was a patient to “round on”, we stood there for a few minutes and said nothing. We watched the snow fall.