Let it Snow
It’s January, and I am loving the snow! For some reason it seems comforting. I love its silence, as it falls to the ground. I love the clean slate look, where everything is white. I wait for the first snow like a child, and when it comes, I feel exuberant and childlike. Outside is not an option for me. I prefer to be fireside with hot chocolate, hot tea or coffee, feeling snug and warm in my house.
My first memory of a big snow was around age five. The snow was beautiful, with huge snowflakes falling so rapidly to the ground, we had several inches in a very short time. I can still remember the excitement I felt. The snow and wind created snow drifts that later became a child’s playground. What fun, standing in the large drifts. Some were actually over my head, prompting my mother to warn me of the dangers. But I could see no danger, I saw only a winter wonderland. I stayed outside until summoned in to check for frozen body parts. Unfortunately, I was coerced into taking warm up breaks at regular intervals. The power was out, but it only effected cooking, as our heat was not electric. Cooking was done on a stove with the soup, etc. being very tasty, and the snow custard exceptional.
What a great snow, one not to be forgotten.
Another memory was when my kids were at home and young. This too was a deep and beautiful snow, resulting in power outages everywhere (power was out for a week). In the beginning, it was fun. We played in the snow, but this time I was the “bad mama” setting snow breaks. Our house was heated electrically, but fortunately we had a fireplace and a wrought iron stove. The stove was great for cooking, as it had a flat top. For a week, we kept the fireplace and stove going to warm our bodies. The bedrooms were too cold to sleep in, so we camped out in the rooms with heat. Being the parent, now, I worried about fires going out at night and refused to make snow cream for fear of illness from our tainted environment. The excitement soon changed to “being over it,” if you know what I mean!
And then there was the time I was taking a course, along with my adult daughter, at Walter’s State Community College. We had been in the library working diligently for a couple of hours. We were so busy, we did not notice that we were the only people in the library, except one librarian. She approached us to ask if we knew it was snowing, and of course, we did not, as there were no windows were we were working. We answered no, and ran to a window in the hall. Looking out, we were mortified! The snow was coming down fast, with beautiful large flakes. The ground was covered as well as the streets. Now at this particular time, I was not viewing the snow as anything but dangerous. Would we be able to get home? That was a question I was really not sure of. We gathered our things and quickly exited to the parking lot. The snow made it difficult to get to the car, but we made it. Now could we make it home? I started the car and away we went, slowly making our way toward home. No roads had been scraped or salted, and we were slipping and sliding. It was a long, slow and slippery ride home, but we made it. I wanted to kiss the ground when I got out of the car, My husband and son-in-law were in the house in a frenzy, and immediately wanted to know why we did not leave earlier. Well, after everyone calmed down, we enjoyed the beautiful snow along with the snowball fights, hot chocolate, and toasty fire. Life was good again!
