it glittered

They had plugged away. They plugged away through the darkness and Theresa went to her first day at a new office; she tried not to remember her friends at the library and the way her smallest patrons thanked her when she found just the right book. She knew she'd get that feeling again, and now it was time to meet her son's new preschool teacher and her new colleagues. Ben had to stay in town all day long with Alex since the drive back to where they were staying sometimes took two hours, and all that time in a car with no Disneyworld at the end of it would have driven three year old Alex straight over the edge of tantrum.
It was odd to do all this in the near-dark with snow swirling around them. It was odd to see ice fog and its glittery crystals against a black afternoon. But it was beautiful. There was so much snow. Alex romped in it like a retriever.
After Theresa's first day in the office (she almost had a whole corner, a big desk, a big window looking out at the 3:30 sunset) Ben and Alex picked her up to go meet the new teacher and tour the new school. Theresa had felt ill all day, jet lagged and wrung out, but she plugged away even though the ground was shifting under her and all the new pale faces were swimming around her.