John grant grew up in Seattle. Like many other kids, he lived in a family, far from perfect but one that loved him. He had one older brother, Alex. They got along, but they were never too close. John was closer to his parents. They cared for him so much. He deeply loved them.

Growing up, John was a quiet kid. He didn’t have many friends. He didn’t really like playing sports; he was more of the type of child interested in science, comics, movies and daydreaming.

He only had one true friend during childhood, his friend Ralph, they liked doing the same kind of things. This friend, and the comics, the science, the movies and the daydreaming were all that he needed not to feel alone.

That and the love of his parents, those things gave him the confidence, the will to survive through the world.

John lost both his parents in an accident when he was 22. His older brother only became more stranded. Pain sometimes does that to people. It was a heavy blow for John. He had never felt so alone and unprotected in his life. Someone had left him at the edge of the abyss, that someone was life itself.

He went through college with the insurance money and with the aid of his brother (Alex already had a good job at a Tax Consultancy by the time of the accident) and from his grandmother, who died just one year before he finished college. Another one that went away. John escaped by studying hard during college. He was the best of his class and all pointed for him to be one of the top mechanical engineers of his?class. John was also a funny man, he would always crack jokes everywhere he went and about anyone who would catch his attention. Most people liked him because of that. Hearing people laugh, that more than many things made John feel that he was not alone, that he was not isolated so he tried really hard. But all trough college he never made any close friends. John and Alex Grant grew even more apart after he finished college. They barely talked anymore. They eventually stoped doing so.

His one true friend, Ralph was on the other coast of the country studying. John thought about his friend all the time but rarely answered his friend’s emails and almost never wrote him any new ones himself. They still talked sometimes over the phone and saw each other during summers, but not all the time. John would always find something else to do, to keep himself?busy and not spending too much time with Ralph. He could not forgive Ralph for going away and leaving him alone.

When he was 29 he had landed a fine job at one of the countries top companies that involved travelling around the different investigation labs giving his aid on different projects . The only problem was, because of so much traveling, he wouldn’t socialize too much in his hometown. He rarely went out with any girls. He liked the job, it brought him satisfaction, but kind of resented it for making him feel alone.

?On one of those trips, one to California, he went out with some work colleagues, just for a couple of beers. Just as always, John made everyone laugh. That day, he was introduced to this skinny girl, with a beautiful smile, soft brown hair and deep hazel eyes. He liked her from the moment he touched her hand. After that, and for years to come, the touch of her hand felt like putting your hand near the fire on a cold snowy night. It felt warm, it felt alive, it felt like company.? The first thing he did was make her laugh and that was almost enough for her.

They kept on talking, almost every day, every time he went to California they would spend all the time they could together. He even made some trips, making up excuses for the company about this or that project. She would come and visit him in Seattle whenever she could. Eventually, he got the opportunity and moved to California, still working for the same company, with not much of a better salary maybe and still the constant travelling? but it was ok. Six months later they were married. He would never feel alone again, he thought.

Two years later, she was pregnant. The lack of sex made him feel alone for a while (he hadn't slept with many women apart from her wife and only learned to enjoy it with Carol, so it was almost a brand new thing for him, it was also a symbol of union and company for the couple to John's eyes), besides he felt jealous because all their friends and her family would only ask about the baby and about the baby, but guilt about such feelings and the growing illusion for his unborn child made those feelings quickly disappear.

Halfway trough the pregnancy, there were problems. Carol got very sick. John thought she was going to die. One day, after she was really sick and they had to go to the hospital, all scared for his wife, he thought “God, please, don’t make me choose, I need my wife, but I also want my baby, please don’t let me be alone”. Carol got a little better, and then went seriously sick again. John couldn’t bear the sight of her with probes and tubes and sweaty and with a pale face like a ghost in the hospital. And he couldn’t bear the fear of losing his wife. So he found refuge in work and didn’t go to the hospital too often. He would call Carol’s mother, or aunt Julia and ask how she was, making up any kind of excuses related to work. He felt guilty but he just couldn’t. She never forgave him for this. She felt he was not man enough to be near his wife when they most needed each other.

Eventually, Carol got better and the baby was born. John was there for the whole last month of pregnancy. He found the strength and it all turned out all right. A beautiful baby girl was born. She looked like her mother, a good thing, John thought.

They named the baby Lisa.

For the first two years of Lisa’s life everything was perfect in the family. The joy of a perfectly healthy child and the wonder to see a baby grow held the family together. And happy really happy times they were.

But some time later, Carol, who never forgot, became a little stranded. She couldn’t simply forgive his husband for not being there. She thought about leaving but knew how bad it would be for John to find himself without his wife and child. She couldn’t forgive him, but she still loved him and cared for him and she could still feel John loved her. So she held still. Things were ok with them but just never the same. But relationships evolve, change and are founded and held together by different things and feelings along the way. If things don't evolve, they die.

John felt his wife slip away, he knew what he had done, but he was a survivor, he was good at fighting against odds, he was good at fighting to keep loneliness at bay and also he did love Carol. As a matter of fact, he loved her very much. He was happy at her side. So he fought for his family, to make his marriage and life survive.

John grew to love Lisa more and more and more. The parts of his imperfect marriage that made him feel alone were filled by the company and love of his little girl.

Eventually he realized he still loved his wife because she had the compassion to keep besides him, even if things weren’t in the best of shapes, even if she was hurt and couldn’t forgive his husband’s actions. He knew then she was faithful, that she wouldn’t leave him. That made him sleep comfortably at night.

And he also knew that her daughter loved him so much and the fact that she would show special affinity towards him made him truly happy.

He found balance and he was at ease with himself.

He had survived through many periods of loneliness in his life. He was confident once again that he would not have to be alone in this world.?

But then one day the world changed forever.

Snow, grey snow started falling from the sky...