Snow, Beautiful Snow!

Here's another "wayback" snow picture in honor of our snowfall here in central Arkansas.  Here's my little boy digging in the snow with a big spoon.  I remember he had his Tonka dump truck and had so much much fun "excavating" in the snow.

What a difference time makes.  My boy called me last night and told me he and some friends are going sledding this morning on a hill where his friend says they can get up to about 45 miles an hour.  Is that possible sledding down a big hill?  I don't think I want to know.

Snow is fun for us in this area of the country because it's so rare.  It's a magical event.  During the five years I lived in Kansas as a young bride, snow lost its magic for me because it was a part of daily life from November to spring.

I remember the first day it snowed when I began teaching at Cessna Elementary in Wichita.  Outside my classroom window that morning huge snowflakes began falling fast and furiously.  As they continued to fall and the snow began spreading a thick, soft blanket on the ground, I waited for the principal to get on the intercom and tell us that school was being dismissed.  It didn't happen.  It snowed all day.  School was dismissed at four o'clock.  I trudged through the drifts, struggling to keep my balance.  I remember using a broom to sweep the snow off my car.  I don't even remember where I got the broom.  I'm sure a co-worker had compassion on the naive, young teacher from the south.  I finally got settled in my car and slowly started across the parking lot, only to lose control and began sliding dangerously.  I remember that when I got stopped I burst into tears and said aloud to the empty car, "I don't know how to drive in this stuff."  Somehow I made it home that day, and over the course of the next few months I learned to drive in that "stuff."

When John was a toddler, I ran a home preschool program out of our house.  Tim traveled on business most of the week, and I was home alone with a house full of kids.  Couldn't get out.  Too many kids for one car, and the weather was bad so much of the winter. We had a chunk of ice in a shady area in our front yard that stayed there from about Thanksgiving until the following spring.  I would look out and see that ice and wonder if spring would ever come.

To those of you here in central Arkansas, I hope you make some wonderful memories in the snow today.  Or, if you prefer, just curl up with a good book and have a cozy day as you look out at the magical white world.