The cold wind blew on his face as he stood watching the snow fall. John Capoletti had always enjoyed the first snowfall of December...there was something special about it. He could stand in the middle of a street in town or in a field out in the country and the feeling was always the same. It was so quiet...so peaceful...an almost spiritual feeling. It always made him feel good and helped him to get in the mood for Christmas. He had alway enjoyed this time of year and could remember as a child sitting out on the sunporch of his house where his parents always put the family tree. There were several windows in this small room and the snow falling outside framed his view of the tree and the blinking lights. He could spend hours sitting in the dark just watching the lights, the reflections in the ornaments, and the diamonds in the snow.

The "diamonds in the snow" was what his mother always called those little, "sparkley things" that reflected off of the snow. And in a way calling them diamonds made perfect sense to John. For in his mind, they were precious indeed. It always amazed him that these small moments could make him feel the way he did. He was not a particularly religious or spiritual man, yet during this season "the first snow" always made him more aware of himself and life and what he wanted from both. That was particularly an appropriate mood for this Christmas.

He and Cindy would have to decide something about the boys. They had been in his home for over six months and the judge had recently decided that they would not be going home again. The agency was wanting to make permanent plans for the two and asked if they would be interested in adoption. It had been a difficult placement because of the boys' behaviors and the odds were that things would not improve...ever. Still, he had grown attached to them and he hoped that they felt the same toward him. But they had never really shown any feelings one way or the other and the therapist said that the little one, Josh, was incapable of forming a trusting relationship with anyone.

The sound of cruching footsteps stirred John from his thoughts. He looked over his left shoulder to see a small figure wrapped in many layers of clothing approaching slowly...it was Josh. He sighed and turned back to continue his thoughts. As Josh came closer, he slowed until he stood beside John. They stood together quietly as if sharing their innermost feelings for several minutes. John sighed again and then felt Josh put his hand in his. He turned and looked down to see Josh looking up a him with a smile on his face. John returned the smile and knew that deep down inside there really wasn't any decision to be made...it had already been done a long time ago.

Father and son stood quietly together with the snow falling all around them. They stood hand-in-hand for several minutes more, enjoying the solitude, watching the snowflakes drift slowly to the ground and marveling at the quiet evening and the glimmer of the tiny diamonds in the snow.